BT 930 
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1854 
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DEATH NOT LIFE: I 

THE THEOLOGICAL flELL 

AND 

ENDLESS MISERY DISPROVED; 

AND THE 

DOCTRINE OF OESTRUGTiON ESTABLiSHEU, 

EV 

A COLLECTIOX AND EXPLAXATIOX OF ALL PAS- 
SAGES OX FUTURE PUXISHMEXT, 

ALSO 

METAPHYSICAL ARGUMEXTS FO?v THE IMMORTALITY OP 
THE WICKED EXPLODED. 



^ BY JACOB BLAIN, 

BAPTIST MINISTER OF BUFFALO, N. Y. 



All the wicked will God destroij:'—Vs. 145 : 20. 
'^Fvor yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be.'' — Ps. o7 : 10. 

They shall be as though they had not been."^' — Obadiah 16. 
For thev "shall be punished with everlasting destruction.'''^— 
2d Thess.. 1: 9. 



THIRD EDITrOX. 



N E W Y O E K : 



± PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE BIBLE EXAMINER, .^J 
!^ . No. 140 Fulton-street. p 



18 5 4 



BRIEF ANSWERS TO REASONS TO JT)StlFY ENDLESS WOE. 

1. Edwards says, "It will vindicate God's injured majesty, and 
glorify his justice." 

Capital punishment of death — " everlasting destruction " will an- 
svver these ends; but endless woe would ruin justice, or else rea- 
son must be abandoned as any guide. 

2. "It will be just, as sin will continue in hell." This denies the 
Bible, which says, punishment will be for deeds on earth," not for 
those in hell. Besides, it betrays a want of common se.nse to say 
men should be punished for sin when doomed, as all say, lo a state 
of sin, and denied recovery by repentance and reform. 

3. " Sin is an infinite evil, and so merits infinite woe." God alone 
can do an infinite evil, as he only can put an end to all good. Man 
is finite, and neither reason nor the Bible say he can, or has done an 
infinite evil; so the ar|?*ument is perfect sophistry. 

4. ''It will be just, as salvation is offered to all." This denies a 
yac/, and betrays consummate ignorance. Three-fourths of men 
have never heard the gospel ; and " how then shall they call on, 
and believe in him of whom they have not heard?'' Bom. 10 : 14. 
And further: half the churches are Calvinists, and say the lost w^ere 
decreed to be left; so how could salvation be offered to them ? — 
This argument is "speaking wickedly for God." Job 13: 7; yet 
most Christians are now guilty of it. 

5. It will be just, as we admit, temporary woe is just." On 
this principle, if it is just to put the murderer in agony by hanging 
him, it would be just to keep him hanging forever, or as long as we 
could keep him alive. Would that be just and good in God which 
we detest in men ? The intellect is to be pitied, if not despised, 
which cannot discern the difference, in principle or justice, between 
momentary and eternal chastisement or woe. The rirst may or 
will result in the good of the universe ; the latter is impossible, un- 
less God and holy beings are so changed as to delight in misery. 

6. Pres. Edwards says, Saints may be happy in heaven, though 
they see sinners in hell, because we are happy here while many are 
in State Prisons." I ask if we would not happier if all prisons 
on earth were empty? Will "all things work for good," &c., in 
heaven? — if so, prisoners and dungeons must not exist. But it is 
said, " we shall miss friends if they are dead, and so heaven will not 
be perfect." The Bible more than intimates that relative, (not 
social) ties will cease " in the resurrection," (" they marry not," &c.} 
so we shall miss relatives no more than strangers. Christ's family 
will all be there. 

7. It is said, " The terror of eternal woe is greater than that of 
destruction, and so more salutary." This would be true in part if 
men believed it ; but in our day it effects sinners just as a child ten 

[SEE INSIDE LAST COVER ] 



DEATH NOT LIFE: 

OR 

THE THEOLOGICAL HELL 

AND 

ENDLESS MISERY DISPROVED: 

AND THE 

DOCTRINE OF DESTRUCTION ESTABLISHED, 

BY 

A COLLECTION AND EXPLANATION OF ALL PAS- 
SAGES ON FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 

ALSO 

METAPHYSICAL ARGUMENTS FOR THE IMMORTALITY OP 
THE WICKED EXPLODED. 

LT JACOB BLAIN, 

BAPTIST MINISTER OF BUFFALO, N. Y. 



All the wicked will God destroy:'— Vs. 145 : 20. 
^'For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not — Ps. S7 : 10. 
" They shall be as though they had not heenP — Obadiah 16. 
For they ''shall be punished with everlasting destruction^ — 
2d Thess., 1 : 9. 

THIRD EDITION. 

N E W Y 0 E K : 

PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE BIBLE EXAMINER, 
No. 140 Fulton-street 
1 8 5 4. 



Entered, accordiDg to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 
J AGO B B LAIN, 
In the Clerk's office of ibe District Court of the United States, 
for the Southern District of New York. 



Gift 

Judge and M rs. J>R,Hitt 



John J. Rekd, Printer, 
16 Spruce street. 



/ 



^ ... . . 

CO 

INTRODUCTION. ^ 

> 

Does the doctrine of endless misery commend itself to every 
man's conscience Like Paul, we wish, by a " manifestation of 
the trath^^ to thus commend the doctrine of destruction. 2 Cor. 4 : 2. 

An argument now often used to prevent research and reform on X3 
the reexamination of our creeds is, that new and delusive errors are 
constantly springing up in our day. Many patented inventions on 
trial are found to be useless, and when the patents for steamboats, 
the telegraph, &c., came out, if all had refused to try them, because- 
most patents proved useless, much more good sense would have 
been manifested than is shown in this argument ; for they could 
affect us but a few years, while Christ has said, to break the least 
of his commands" will " make us the least in the kingdom of hea- 
ven." ^' Be not carried about with every wind of doctrine," is now 
perverted, (as was the one quoted on the pinacle of the temple.) and 
made to mean, ^ alter not the creeds,' — " bring no new things out 
of the treasure-house" of God's Word, — " our creeds are two and 
three hundred years old, and were made when we half emerged 
from Popery, and "all new and old things" are in them ! ! ! The 
motto of churches as to doctrines, seems to be, 

" What has been always customary^ 
Legal becomes and necessary. 

Ergo, it's legal and necessary to teach immortality, and an end- 
less hell. Prof. Finny has been censured for teaching perfection- 
ism in 'practice^ but a far worse perfectionism is being manifested 
by all sects as to doctrine.^^ 



4 



INTRODUCTION. 



I will here only suggest the importance of the subject examined 
in these pages. (1.) The teaching of endless wo, is casting gloom 
over the church of God. (2.) Driving our land into Uniyersalism 
and infidelity. (3.) If it's not in the Bible, awfully slanders our 
Maker, And (4.) The doctrine of destruction^ if in the Bible, and 
understood, will remove these evils ; or, at least would immensely 
lesson two of them, and entirely end the slander of the Almightj'-. 
All well-balanced minds would see that the ''Judge of all the earth" 
vrould be just in such a penalty for rebellion and impenitence. 

When I have finished an argument, and to my own mind ex- 
posed error, I have often been severe in reproof ; but I have hoped 
the reader would feel like David — " Let the righteous smite me j 
it shall be akindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an ex- 
cellent oil which shall not break my head." Ps. 141 : 5. 

My reproofs are mostly designed for two classes — the learned in 
the original languages; and those who have had this subject 
brought to their minds and for some cause refuse to investigate, or 
only 'partially do so, and then denounce and ridicule it. The per- 
secutors of Galileo refused to look through his telescope, lest they 
should be convinced his theory of astronomy was right, and per- 
fulventure themselves would be persecuted. The reason I lay the 
blame on ministers is, they have ever been and still are the leading 
enemies to reform and persecutors of reformers — the laity must 
lead in reform in doctrines. They have also the m.ost time to learn 
the truth in this matter, and as yet have generally neglected it and 
cried the loudest against it. The history of the church proves 
my charge, that ministers oppose reform. In the sequel I will 
ehow it. 

Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones lest they 
provoke to a like practice, Dobney and others have written on 
this subject in a kind spirit, but have received little else but mis- 
sils of abuse. Argument has been thought too gentle a weapon to 
battle them with, or else they have had none to use, and still con- 
cluded they must fight in some way 

Take heed, lest you be found fighting against God." 



INTRODUCTION. 



What is to be the destiny of ourselves or of our race, bey ond the 
brief period of this life, all must admit, is a question of vast impor- 
tance ; and especially so from the sad fact that we are conscious of be- 
ing sinners, and knowing that sin merits and receives punishment in 
a greater or lesa^egree and extent. Reason prompts us to learn, if 
possible, what the ultimate penalty of God's broken law is to be. 
We are prospective beings, living more on the future than on the 
present and past. 

^ Hope springs eternal in the human breast. 
Man never i5, but always to he bless'd.' 

Thoughtless and unfeeling indeed must he be who thinks not of, 
and is not moved by a view of an endless duration beyond the 
grave. It is true that all are not sure of an endless existence, 
neither from reason nor yet from the Bible, as I shall endeavor to 
show ; but it is a truth that there must be an endless future, and a 
truth that all desire existence in that future, provided it can be a 
happy existence. It is also a soul-cheering truth that God has 
fully promised such an existence to all who come to Christ as the 
Bible directs ; or in other words, to all it denominates the righteous. 

But what will be the final doom of those the Bible denominates 
the wicked, is far from being settled in the theories and minds of 
men. Scores of volumes have been written, and thousands of ser- 
mons preached on their destiny. But what have been the theories 
proposed and discussed ? Why, taking for granted, as all creeds 
have done, that all men are immortal^ one party has contended that 
the wicked must exist in endless misery ; and the other that they 
will ultimately be restored to holiness and happiness in some ways 
and at some period. Neither party are correct in my humble 
opinion. 

The issue has been wrong, and with it confusion does and ever 
must exist, while it's continued. The only plain penalty revealed 
in the Bible, our only guide, is literal death to the wicked — extinc- 
tion of being, soul and body, " at the judgment of the great day," 
--"the i^ag'etfof sin is DEATH." Rom. 6. 



INTRODUCTION. 



A few hare contended for this doctrine for ages, as may be seen 
by the Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, article destTUciion ; 
but the tradition of centuries and the power of popular opinion, 
have preyented general investigation. But about ten years ago. 
Rev. Geo. Storrs, then of Albany, N. Y., wrote a small work on the 
subject, entitled— An iNauiRY — Are the Wicked Immcwital ? 
In Six Sermons." Some 25.000 of this work were soon (mostly 
gratuitously.) scattered through the States and Canada, and re- 
printed and spread in England.* This awakened an enquiry and 
convinced thousands of the truth of the doctrine. In 1846, Rev. 
H. H. Dobney. and Rev. E. White, of England, published larger 
works, the former of which has been extensively spread in both 
countries. Soon after Rev. Wm. Glen Moncrieff, of Scotland, fol- 
lowed with some small works. The churches of these ministers 
adopted their views. Of late, Rev. J. Panton Ham, of Bristol, Eng- 
land, has written largely, and two periodicals have been started, 
one by Ham, and one by Moncrieff. Three of these ministers I 
have named in England, are Congregational and one a Baptist ; all 
literary men. More than twenty different writers have published 
works in theL'nited States and Canada; and several periodicals 
are published which warmly advocate Life only through Christy 
and the utter destruction of the wicked. The Bible Examiner, by 
George Storrs, of New York, is nearly exclusively devoted to this 
one subject. 

From fifty to seventy-five ministers in the United States advo-. 
cate the doctrine, and their numbers are constantly increasing. — 
Most of the Advent Societies hold to it, and I know of three Bap- 
tist churches which fellowship it. A large number in the different 
churches believe the doctrine, who say but little about it, except 
to its open advocates. In brief, the number who now hold the 
view are so large, and so decided in spreading light, that all efforts 

* About 100,000 of this work hare now been spread in this country, and still 
the demand for it continues. I would honor it as the work which first aroused 
my own mind to this great subject. I have good reasons for commending it, 
for all the gold of California would not have given me the joy Thave foond iu 
the one. truth it adyocates. . . 



INTRODUCTibN. 



7 



to stop its progress must be vain, and a general investigation must 
soon take place ; at least in the United States and Canada. When 
that comes, the doctrine of endless wo must soon fall , for it can no 
more stand before the light of God's word, than Dagon before the 
ark of God. It shows either gro^t weakness or ignorance of the 
theological book world, to say this doctrine has been investigated^ 
Wad it been in the field of controversy as Universalism has, it 
-would have triumphed long since. 

Many ask, and often sneeringly, ^ Why this doctrine was not 
discovered and embraced before T The opposers of Luther, and 
temperance, &c., often asked the same question, and in the same 
spirit. 

' Numbers are no markj ^ 

That we shall right be foundj 
A few were saved in the ark 

For many millions drowned.' 

Many also refuse to read our works, and say, ^we have the Bt- 
ble.^ I ask then why hear preaching if they need no aid to learn 
the connection of the Bible on any doctrine and duty ? I should 
have saved a year's hard study, had I possessed a work like the 
one I here present — that is, with all the texts on future punish- 
ment, collected and arranged, and their connection with other texts 
shown, by which their meaning is ascertained. The reader will 
'see too that much time is required to look up good authorities for 
their meaning in the original. 

Another common objection to further research and change is, 
that the preaching of endless wo has been blessed to the salvation 
of millions. This I deny — I will briefly give my reasons for so do- 
ing. Paul was ^* determined to know nothing among the people, 
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." The orthodox have ever 
preached this grand central truth, and also depravity, faith, re- 
pentance, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit j and these truths 
are blessed, while error mixed with them is forgiven. Luther 
preached the absurdity, that prayer changed the bread and wine 
into the real body and blood of Christ 1 and I ask if it was this or 
'justification by faith alone/ that God blessed ? Orthodox Quakers 



8 



INTRODUCTION. 



are blessed, and I ask if it is for preaching against baptism and the 
Lord's supper] 

President Edwards is often referred to as an example on this 
point ; as great revivals attended his preaching. All acquainted 
with his writings know he was powerful in convincing of sin, (the 
Spirit's great work) and in presenting Christ ; and could not his 
'sovereign God* bless these truths, even with great error by their 
side ? And further, most now admit that Edwards greatly erred 
in preaching literal Jire for the sinner's home, and that, immense" 
ly worse than a glowing jurnace^ an oven^ or a hrick-kiW^ ! I I 
ask if this was also blessed ? All will say no, but it was forgiven. 
On the same ground then, and with equal authority, I affirm, that 
preaching the horrid doctrine of endless torment was never blessed, 
but forgiven. " Christ must have a seed to serve him," and as all 
sects err more or less, those which preach Christ must gather 
them. 

It is a sad fact too, that more millions of Universalists, and what 
is far worse, of infidels, deists, and atheists, have been made by the 
popular doctrine, than of real saints. The church too has been 
crowded with stony-ground hearers" by it. 

There is meaning and truth in the following seemingly harsh 
anecdote. At a public convention, Prof Finny requested to in- 
troduce a certain doctrine, and was opposed by Dr. Beecher, who 
remarked — When the devil has any dirty work to do, he always 
obtains good men to do it." 

I affirm, with full confidence of being right, that a denovo ex- 
amination of this great subject is imperiously demanded, and when 
light from God's word is offered, it is sin to refuse it, either for want 
of time, as is a common excuse, especially with ministers, or be- 
cause popular opinion enables most Christians to float along in 
comparative ignorance of the Bible, as 4o the true penalty of God's 
law. 

" Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit ? There is more 
hope of a fool than of him.^ Prove all things, hold fast that 
which is gc>cki.'* 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



CIIAPTEE I. 

"There are, I know, persons who speak concerning future punishment with 
an air of cool self-complacency, as being, in their view, easy of investigation 
and free from embarrassment. I am inclined, perhaps uncharitably, to give 
them little credit for candor, clearness of intellect, or soundness of character ; 
and greatly doubt whether it has been investigated by them." 

Dr. Dwight, v. 4, p. 457 

THE PENALTY OF GOP's LAW IS DEATH ; THAT IS, THE LITERAL DESTRUC- 
TION OF THE WICKED AT THE JUDGMENT AND NOT THEIR ENDLESS 
EXISTENCE IN MISERY. 

Those who hold this doctrine are charged, by what are 
called orthodox churches, with not knowing, or not under- 
standing the Bible ; and also with forsaking it, and taking 
reason for their guide. Being, fully convinced that the 
Bible has not been sufficiently examined on this great sub- 
ject, I purpose giving the result of four years' study of that 
precious book, with special reference to this doctrine ; and 
draw a full and faithful so to speak, of the Bible on 

the penalty of the law, by quoting every text for and against 
the views I advocate. Such an exhibition of passages has 
not been made, to my knowledge, and I have long felt that 
it should be done, to aid those who wish to know the truth, 



10 



DIRECT PROOFS OP DESTRUCTION 



but have not time to examine the whole Bible for this pur- 
pose. When a decisive battle is to be fought, generals 
bring all their forces into the field, and we should imitate 
them in our contest for truth. 

This controversy not being with TJniversalists, I shall of 
course not pay special attention to all the texts on which 
they rely for their views ; yet I will devote a section to 
them, and quote their strongest Bible proofs. Should they 
honor this little work with a perusal, let me kindly ask 
them to first read this section. — (See the index.) 

To see the force or positiveness of proof in the passages 
I quote to sustain my views, which I will give first, and 
then present the opposing texts, let the rule of Bible critics 
be w^ell considered. Andrew Fuller gives it thus — " Every 
term is to be taken in its proper or primary sense^ except 
there be something in the subject or connection which re- 
quires it to be taken otherwise." 

When this rule is applied to terms for destruction, we 
are met with the assertion—* man is immortal, and there- 
fore these terms must not be taken in their primary sense.' 
I only answer at present, that this is purely an assumption; 
for not a text in the Bible says man is immortal, or has an 
immortal soul^ or deathless spirit. These, and many like 
expressions, are men's additions to the Bible ; and their 
very frequent use by teachers, should arouse hearers to 
suspect they are not being taught from the Bible, but by 
men's inventions. " Mortal man" — " God only hath im- 
mortality," is the language of the Bible. Of course the 
wicked are not immortal^ if the Bible declares they are to 
be literally destroyed as the beasts, and finally burned up. 
Most of the texts I proceed to quote, or refer to, may be 
seen to be in plain language ; and are selected and judged 
to refer to the final doom of the wicked. A few of them 
may he construed to mean only earthly judgments, but as 
they have been used as proof of the common doctrine, it is 
necessary to examine them. 

I will give first, direct, and then a few strong inferential 
proofs of my views. * 

The limits I propose, will permit me to draw oflf only a 
part of the passages, anxi give a concordance of the rest. 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



DIRECT PROOF OF DESTRUCTION. 

L— Die. 

Gen. 2 : 17—" Thou shalt surely die." 

J. Lock, Esq., the great mental philosopher and Chris- 
tian, says — " It seems a strange way of understanding a 
law, which requires the plainest and directest words, that 
by ^ cleat Ji^ should be meant eternal life in misery," If 
this was meant, then no redemption has been made ; for 
Christ did not thus die. The Bible is plain that he " died 
for our sins" — Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of 
the law, being made a curse for us": Gal, 3: 13. His 
death then tells what the threatening was, and that eternal 
woe could not be included. The plea that the greatness of 
his character, made up for this endless misery, is adding to 
the Bible, or arguing from its silence, just as do the Cath- 
ohcs. These two thoughts alone are enough to overturn 
all our systems of divinity on this point 

How can we know brutes die, if "to die" is not the ex- 
tinction of conscious existence ? Ecc. 3 : 19-20, tells us 
they die ahke. Again, an endless Hfe in misery is more 
and worse than death ; therefore God, and all the Bible 
writers used deception if that was meant, for they nowhere 
explain death to mean it. Pro v. 15: 10; 19: 16; Jer. 
31 : 30; 2 Chron. 25 : 4; Ez. 3 : 18, 19,20; 18: 4; 17: 
21 ; 24: 26; 31 : 32; 33: 8, 11, 13, 18. 

" The soul that sinneth it shall die^ If death means 
separation of soul and body, as men (not the Bible) say, I 
ask, what is the death of a soul ? Has that got two parts 
60 as to be separated ? 

John 11 : 26 ; 6 : 50—'' Bread (Christ) may eat thereof 
and not die^ Eom. 8 : 13 — " If ye live after the flesh ye 
shall diey Did not Paul know how to say " be tormented 
forever" as well as we ? Of course final death is meant, 
as those who " walk after the spirit" die a temporal death. 
— [Twenty texts.) 

II. — Death. 

Beut. 30: 15, 19; ''I set before you life and drnth^' 



12 



DIRECT PROOFS OF DESTRUCTION. 



Of course, Moses did not mean the obedient would not die 
a temporal death ; hence final death was intended. Ps. 7 : 
11, 12 ; " If he turn not, he hath prepared for him the in- 
struments oi death:' Prov. 2 : 18 ; 5 : 5 ; 7 : 27 ; 8 : 36 ; 
14: 12; Jer. 21: 8; I set before you the way of life, and 
the way of death." It is serious business to say all the 
prophets were combined to keep the people blind as to 
what is meant by death ; as no intimation is found that it 
was eternal misery in the Old Testament. 

Math. 4: 16; John 5: 24; 8: 51; " If a man keep my 
saying, he shall never see death." Temporal death, of 
course, is not here meant ; and does he mean misery^ or 
the " second" and final death ? 

Eom. 5 : 21 ; 6 : 16, 21 ; For the end of these things 
is death." 6: 23; ^^For iha wages of sin is death; but 
the gift of God is eternal life^ Note the contrast. Eom. 
7: 5, 10, 13; 8: 6; 1 : 32; 2 Cor. 2: 16; 7: 10; Heb. 
2: 15; James 1: 15; Sin, when it is finished, bringeth 
forth deathy 5 : 20. 

The second death : Eev. 2 : 31; 20, 6, 14; 21 : 8 ; ^'Tln- 
believers, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake 
Avhich burneth with fire and brimstone ; which is the second 
death. "* — ( Thirty. -three texts. ) 

McKnight and Whitby, noted commentators, say, " in 
the second death, the body will die again, and the soulhve 
on in misery." If such assumptions do not deserve ridi- 
cule instead of an answ^er, I know of nothing in catholic 
expositions that do. But they were the great and good^ 
whom ministers now say could not be mistaken. 

III. — Destroy. 

Ps. 5 : 6 ; 52 : 5 ; " God shall also destroy thee forever 
—and root thee out of the land of the living^'' 

Ps. 145 : 20 ; " The Lord preserveth all them that love 
iiim : but all the wicked will he destroy^ 

Ps. 9: 5; 37: 38; The transgressors shall be rie^i^rc??/- 
ed together." 92 : 7 ; When the workers of iniquity do 
nourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever^ 



* Our title, " Death not Life^^ may need an explanation to some. Tho 
);opular theology makes the /tnaZ deaths threatened in the Bible, mean life in 
miser^r, of a miserable l\fe; and the caption is intended to deny this liaoaBiiig. 



DEATH NOT LITE. 



13 



Prov. 1: 32; 11 : 3; 7: 16; 13: 13, 10; 29: 1; ^^He 
that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall sudden- 
ly be destroyed^ and that without remedy?'^ Matt. 10 : 28 ; 
1 Cor. 3 : 17 ; James 4 : 12 ; " Who is able to save and 
to destroy?^ 

Acts 3 : 23 ; " And it shall come to pass, that every 
so^tl which w^ill not hear that prophet, (Christ,) shall be 
destroyed from among the people." This threat has not 
yet been fulfilled ; and of course the finishing of Christ's 
work, as king, is referred to. Notice, the soul (psuche) is 
to be destroyed. The proper rendering of the Greek is, 
shall be utterly exterminated,''''' How would it sound to 
say " be tormented from among the people" ? 

Luke 6 : 49 ; " The house fell and became a great heap 
of ruirisy — (Geo. Campbell.) When a brick house falls 
it is no more a house^ and though the materials of which it 
was built are not annihilated, the house is. Thus we see 
men are guilty of quibbling when they say nothing can 
be annihilated." 

2 Pet. 2 : 12 ; " But these, as natural brute beasts, made 
to be taken and destroyed?^ 1 John 3 : 8 ; For this pur- 
pose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy 
the works of the devil." Not so, say our creeds, they must 
be preserved forever, and be greater after ' the Son of God' 
has finished his work than ever before 1! — more misery, and 
more hatred and cursing ! 

Eev. 11 : 18; ^' That thou shouldest destroy ihQxa that 
destroy the earth" — of course the devil is included. Why 
not say, Shut them up in ^e//," as divines now do ? 

Destruction. — Job 31: 3,23; ''Is not destruction to 
the wicked?" 21: 30; " The wicked is reserved to the 
Aixj o^destructiony Ps. 73 : 18 ; 103 : 4; Prov. 10 : 29; 

21 : 15; Isa. 1 : 28; "The destruction of the transgres- 
sors and of the sinners shall be together ; and they that 
forsake the Lord shall be consumed^ This time has not 
yet come, so it predicts the judgment. Matt 7 : 13 ; 
'' Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.''' Pom. 9 : 

22 ; " Vessels of wrath fitted for destruction.'''' 1 Thes. 5: 
3 ; 2 Thes. 1 : 9 ; "Be punished with everlasting destruc- 
tion.'''' Why not say torment., Paul ? 1 Tim. 6 : 9 ; 2 Pet. 
2: 1; " Bring upon themselves swift cJ^s^rwc^iOTi. " 3:16; 
" Wrest the Rcriptures to their own destru^twn,''^ — {Forti/' 
twv teccU.) 



14 



DIRECT PROOFS OF DESmUCTION. 



These terms are used five hundred times, and to learn 
their meaning we must go to the Bible facts where they 
are used, and not to theologians. When appHed to men 
and beasts, they are synonymous with death, except in a 
few cases where the context shows they are, like all words, 
used figuratively. For facts see Jude. — G-od destroyed in 
the wilderness all who came out of Egypt over twenty," 
&c. What became of them ? Was their happiness only 
destroyedy as we are told this term means ? No, it was 
their fives. What became of Sodom, Pharaoh's army, &c. ? 

IV. — Perish. 

?s. 2 :12, Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and je perish 
from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." 
Ps. 49 : 12, ^' Man being in honor, abideth not : he is like 
the beasts ih^t perishy V. 20, " And understandeth not, 
is like the beasts i\\2it perish y V. 19, He shall go to the 
generation of his fathers; they shall never see light." V. 
14, 15, Like sheep they are laid in the grave.. .death shall 
feed on them.. .but God will redeem my soul from the 
power of the grave; for he shall receive me." These 
verses in their connection, show that a final doom is intend- 
ed, and to perish like the beasts,", is to cease to be, as 
they do— to remain under the power of the grave, or of 
death"— the second death." Job 20 : 5-7, " The triumph- 
ing of the wicked is short... he shall perish forever like his 
own dung." V. 9, " The eye also which saw him shall see 
him no more." Ps. 10 : 16 ; 92 : 9 ; 37 : 20; See v. 18, 
" The Lord knoweth the days of the upright : and their in- 
heritance shall be forever. But the wicked shall perish^ 
and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs : 
they shall consume^ into smoke shall they consume away." 
Ps. 87 : 22, For such as be blessed of him shall inherit 
the earth ; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off^ 
— We see a final doom is told in these texts; as the 
wicked are no more " cut ojff" nor " perish" than the saints, 
as yet, but are to be " the many who go in the broad way 
to (final) destruction," till Christ comes 

Ps. 68: 2, As wax melteth before the fire, so let the 
wicked jpem/t at the presence of God." Remember the 
Psalms ar© predictions, and qfton \\\^ prayers of Christ.— 



DIRECT PROOFS OF DESTRUCTION. 



15 



They are inspired prayers too. It is absurd to say the 
prophets for 4,000 years did not know what future punish- 
ment would be. 

Ps. 73:27; 112:10; Prov. 10:28; 11:7; 19:9: 
21: 28; Isa. 41 : 11, They that strive with thee shall 
perish.. .he as nothing, and as a thing of nought." Surely 
if they groan and curse for ever, they will not be " as no- 
thing," and they are something while on earth. Job 6 : 
18, ^' They go to nothi?ig and perish.'''' 
Matt. 18: 14; Luke 13:3-5; John 3: 15, 16 ; 11:50, 
It is expedient for ub, that one man should die for the 
people, and that the whole n^iioxi perish not." The " whole 
nation perished (died)" on the earth, but ^' the election" 
will not perish" eternally. 

John 10 : 28 ; Eom. 2 : 12, For as many as have sin- 
ned without law, shall also perish without law." Acts 13 i 
41 ; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:15; 2 Thes. 2:10; 2 Pet. 
3 : 9; 2 : 12, ^' Shall utterly perish in their own corrup- 
tion." 

If perish and destroy means loss of life in this world, it 
is folly to guess they do not mean the same in the world 
to come. A specimen of blindness or perversion is heard 
in quoting Isa. 57 : 1, " The righteous perisheth," to prove 
perish cannot mean death. If men read the Bible with 
any care they would see by the whole verse that temporal 
death is meant. — ( Thirty -one texts,) 

V. — Perdition. 

John 17: 12, " Lost none but the son of perdition^'''' — 
(Judas). Phil. 1 : 28 ; 2 Thes. 2 : 23, ''Man of sin, the 
son of perdition." It is admitted that the " man of sin," 
(popery) is to be ended, and this proves the wicked must 
be ; for 2 Pet. 3 : 7, says, " The present world is reserved 
unto fire against the day of judgment ^ud perdition of un- 
godly men." 1 Tim. 6:9; Heb. 10 : 39, '' We are not of 
them who draw back unto perdition,''^ Eev. 17 : 8-11. — 
(Eight texts,) 

VI. — Consume.' 

Ps. 37 : 19, 20, The wicked.. .into smoke shallthey con 
mrne SLWay.^^ 49 1 14 ; lea. 1 : 28, /' They that forsake the 



16 



DEATH NOT LITE. 



Lord shall be consumed^ Ps. 104 : 35j " Let the sinners 
be consumcdy and let the wicked be no morey Good critics 
tell us that many of David's prayers are predictions, and 
are the words of Christ ; but why did the spirit inspire 
David to pray, if this be only a prayer, for what he did not 
mean to grant? Ps. 59 : 13, ^' Consume them in wrath ; 
ct>7^5^^??^e them, that they may not be^ Certainly if they 
are only shut up some where they " will be^ — {Six texts,) 

VII. — Devour. 

Ps. 21 : 9, "The Lord shall swallow them up in his 
wrath, and the fire shall devour them." This Psalm is 
evidently Christ's w^ords, and tells a final doom. 

Heb. 10 : 27, " There remaineth no more sacrifice for 
sins, but a certain fearful looking for oi judgment and fiery 
indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Here 
and in 2 Pet. 3 : 7, we learn where Gehenna (hell) is to be, 
and what it is, as Lev. 10: 2, and Num. 26: 10, tell us 
what devour mear^. — [Tivo texts.) 

VIIL — Slay, Slain, Kill. 

Ps. 34 : 21 ; 62 : 3 ; 139 : 19, " Surely thou wilt slay the 
wicked, 0 God — ^j^e shall be slain^ all of you." When ? 
They have not been slain yet ; but Luke 19 : 27, tells w^hen 
they wnll be. " But those mine enemies, which would not 
that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them 
before me." V. 15, tells the time — the judgment. Prov. 
1 : 32; Isa. 11:4, "With the breath of his lips shall he 
(Christ) slay the wicked." Matt. 10 : 28, and Luke 12 : 
4, tells us it is to be done in Gehenna^ denoting a place of 
slaughter at the judgment. Amos 8 : 14, " They that 
swear, &c., even they shall /a//, and never rise up again." 
When is this fall to be ? If only temporal death be 
meant, they will " rise up again" in the resurrection. — 
{Eight texts.) 

IX.— Blot Out. 

Ps. 69 : 28, Let them be blotted out of the book of the 
living^ and not be written with the righteous." V. 11 and 



DIRECT PROOFS OF DESTRUCTION. 



17 



26 show these are Christ's words, and so says Dr. Lord, of 
Buffalo. This text h^armonizes with Eev. 3 : 5 — I will 
not blot out his name out of the hook of life?^ Again we 
say the final doom of the wicked was revealed to the pro- 
phets of the 0. T. It is impious to "say these expressions 
only mean blotting ouf^ happiness. But perhaps I should 
forbear such remarks till I show there is not a text de- 
manding such a change, Ps. 9 : 5, Thou hast destroyed 
the wicked, thou \i2.^ipiit out their name for ever and ever." 
Predictions are often put in the past tense. Prov. 10 : 25, 
" As the whirlwind passeth, so are the wicked no more ; 
but the righteous are an everlasting foundation." — [Four 
texts.) 

X. — Hewn Do^vn. 

Matt. 3 : 10 ; 7 : 19, Every tree that bringeth not forth 
good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." Do we 

cast trees into the Jire to preserve them ? Did Christ aim 
to deceive ? — {Two texts.) 

XL — Lose Life. 

Matt. 10 : 39 ; 16 : 25, 26 ; Mark 8 : 35-37 ; John 12: 
25. The import of these seven texts is alike and seen in 
the last. ^' He that loveth his life shall lose it^ and he that 
hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto eternal 

No doctrine of the Bible is made more plain than the 
loss of existence to the sinner is here. The repetitions and 
the comparison shows that Christ meant to be emphatic, 
and put it beyond the possibihty of being misunderstood. 
The original word psuche (life), is used thirteen times in 
these texts, but the translators have put it soul four times 
in Matt. 16 : 26, and Mark 8 : 36, 37. Perhaps they trans- 
lated it soul to prevent repetition, and it is only our ex- 
pounders who dissemble by pretending that life and soul 
in these texts mean two things. Let those who dare, say 
loosing life for Christ's sake, in this world, means literal 
deaths but losing life in ^'the world to come" means only 
the loss of Aa^pzn655. I pity those who do so, whether 
their motives be pure or ndt.^ — [Eight t^xt$.) .tt-;^-; 



18 



BEATH NOT LIFE. 



John S : 36, " He that believeth on the Son hath ever- 
lasting life ; and he that beheveth not the Son shall not 
-^eelife?^ 1 John 5 : 12, He that hath the Son hath life ; 
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not 
Greeds say they have life ! Saints have " the spirit which 
is the earnest, and seal of their inheritance and in this* 
sense they have life now. Eph. 1 : 13, 14; 2 Cor. 1 : 22. 
How would this text sound, to say " he that hath not the 
Son, hath not happiness ?" They (the wicked) have more 
than heart could wish.'^ Ps. 73 : 7. — {Eight texts.) 

XII.— End. 

Ps. 7 : 9, " 0 let the wickedness of the wicked come to 
an end." Will wickedness be ended, if the wicked live to 
hate God ? 

. :^ Heb. 6:8," Whose end is to be burned." 

Ps. 37 : 38, " The end of the wicked shall be cut off:^ 
Phil. 3 : 19, " Whose end is destruction?'' Neh. 1 : 9. 
If men are immortal, then they have no end^ and this 
language is absurd. If we had not became accustomed to 
absurdities, just as the Cathohcs have, we should see that 
the common theory makes the Bible the most contradic- 
tory book ever written.— (jPit?^ teocts,) 

XIII. — Not Be. 

Ps. 37 : 16, " For yet a little while and the wicked shall 
not be: yea thou shalt dihgently consider his place^ audit 
shall not he?'' Where is hell then ? Pfov. 12:7; Obed. 
16, " They (the heathen) shall be as though they had not 
been." 1 Sam. 2 : 9, " He shall keep the feet of his saints, 
and the wicked shall be silent in darkness." Job 8 : 22, 
"The dwelling-place oi the wicked shall come to nought." 
-^Margin " not be." — [Five texts.) 

XIV. — Out Off. 

Ps. 37 : 9, " For evil doers shall be cut off; but those 
that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth." When ? 
*^ The new heaven and earth." V, 22 : 28, " His saints are 
preserved for ever ; but the seed of the wicked shall be cut 



DIRECT PUOOFS OF DESTRUCTION. 



19 



off?' V. 38. Ps. 34 : 16, " The face of the Lord is against 
them that do evil, to cut o^ the remembrance of them from 
the earth." — {Five texts.) 

: XV. CoRRUPTfoN. 

Gal. 6:8," For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the 
flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, 
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Note the con- 
trast, {one text.) 

XVI.— Ground to Powder. 

Matt. 21 : 44; Luke 20: 18, " On whomsoever it (the 
stone, Christ,) shall fall, it will grind him to powder?^ 
Crush him to pieces."^' — Geo. Campbell. 

XVII. — Tear in Pieces. 

Ps. 5G : 22, " Now consider this ye that forget God, lest 
I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.'' 1 Sam. 
2: 10, "The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to 
pieces." — (Two texts.) 

XVIII. — ^PuT AWAY AS Dross. 

Ps. 119: 119, " Thou puttest away all the wicked of the 
earth like dross."^' — ( One text.) 

XIX. — Nothing and Nought. 

Isa. 41 : 11, 12, " They that war against thee, shall be 
as nothing, and as a thing of nought ; and they that strive 
with thee shall perish.^' Jer. 10: 2, " Correct me, but not 
in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. — (Three 
texts. 

XX. — Burn and Burn Up. 

Mai. 4: 1, " Por behold the day cometb that shall burn 
as an oven ; and all the proud, yea, and all that do* wicked- 
ly, shall be as stubble : and the day that cometh shall burn 



20 



DEATH KOT LIFE. 



them up\ saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them 
neither root nor branch?'' V. 3, "The wicked shall be 
a^hes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do 
this." Thus the 0. T. begins with the threatening of 
deaths and ends with the doom of being " burned up root 
and brancK'' ; and this tells what " to die'''' means. 

By the above map of the 0. T. we find eighty-five 
threatenings for utter destruction ; and as I shall show, not 
one for endless suffering. 

In the same map we have seventy-seven promises of 

life^^ to the righteous. Surely God did not leave his 
people 4,000 years without the motives of fear and hope as 
to the endless future. In contrasting the fate of saints and 
sinners, many other terms are appHed to saints, such as, 
"be preserved for ever", — "inherit the earth" — "redeem 
me from the power of the grave," &c., and these terms 
show that the promise of life means existence^ and not mere 
happiness^ as we are vainly taught. Such promises fully 
taught the Jew a resurrection. 

But how does the N. T. begin, as to the penalty? 
Matt. 3 : 12, " Whose fan is in his hand, and he shall 
thoroughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into his 
garner ; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable 
fire"— wrath, vengeance, which never will be quenched. — 
" Our God is a consuming fire?'' If single texts could con- 
firm a doctrine, ours is confirmed here ; for a stronger com- 
parison cannot be made. Chaff put in fire to be preserved ! 
So say our creeds. Mat. 13 : 30, 38, 42, -48, 50, "As 
therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire ; 
so shall it be in the end of this world," &c. 

It is well worthy of notice, that in all Christ's symbolic 
representations of the final doom of sinners, the disciples 
never ask an explanation only in this one, and in Luke 12 : 
41, 46; and here the explanation is so plain that it must 
settle his meaning in all the rest. The answer in Luke 
agrees with this as having a " portion with unbelievers," 
is this — " I will cut him in sunder?'' It is a double ex- 
pression of the same thing, as is common in Christ's teach- 
mg. Why did they never ask him what he meant by being 
" cast into the fire of Gehenna (hell) ?" The answer is, 
they were Jews, and knew a difigtaceful d^ath at the judg- 
ment was meant 



DIRECT PROOF OF DESTRUCTION. 



■ John 15 : 6/' If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth 
as a branch... cast into the fire^ and they are hurnedy— 
Heb. 6:8," "Whose end is to be burned.'^'' 

Ps. 21 : 9, "And the fire [angei\^ ivraih) shall devour 
them." — 97: 3, "A fire goeth before him, and hurneth vp 
his enemies." Ps. 14 : 10. — {Nine texts.) 

"Where in the Bible, have men learned that " burn up^"^ 
when applied to man, the whole man (for no dividmg him 
is named,) at the judgment, means just the reverse of what 
it does in this world ? 

Here are twenty terms and phrases used 200 times. As 
I have said, to learn the meaning of Bible words and 
phrases, we have greatly erred in going to preachers and 
books. Historical facts in the Bible should guide us. — 
When I read that all who came out of Egypt over twenty 
years of age — of the fate of Sodom and Pharaoh^s army — 
of the 2,000 sw4ne which ran into the sea, I shall not go to 
the learned to find out whether they died^ or were only 
made raiserable, when it is said they perished-^ and were 
" destroy edy If perish and destroy means to live in misery, 
as preachers say, then beasts live in endless woe, for the 
terms are often applied to them. It is a perfect contradic- 
tion in language to say a thing is to be " consumed," " de- 
voured," "burned up," &c.,if it is indestructible, as divines 
say the soul is, or the resurrected mayi will be. 

The people are often told that destructionists do not 
know Hebrew and Greek, and so cannot know the mean- 
ing of the terms they use ; and this passes for good logic 
with many who are too stupid, or too idle to think and 
search for themselves. Be it remembered, brethren, that 
God has not said — " go to others to search the Scriptures 
for j-ou ;" yet most act as if this was very plainly com- 
manded. But it is false that we have not learned men ad- 
vocating our views. All can, however, see by the English 
Bible, that to make all these 200 words mean only a de- 
struction of happiness^ is adding to and perverting that 
sacred book. tJniversahsts have been derided for saying 
these terms mean only the destruction of si7i and evil^ mere 
nonentities; but they are less absurd than the orthodox, 
because they try to apply these threatenings to earthly 
judgments. They offer plausible reasons for applying a 
few of them there. 



22 



DEATH NOT LirE. 



Look over the fifty-three texts I have quoted, where the 
Holy Spirit has said the final doom of the sinner is death, 
and to die. and ask yourself if he only meant that he should 
be miserable eternally / / Do the same with the other 
nineteen terms. If perish means eternal woe in the Bible, 
then 1 Cor. 15 : 18, must mean that they who sleep in 
Jesus," are in eternal woe. If destroy is sometimes appUed 
to calamities on earth, it still means the ending of a thing, 
as of prosperity, liberty, country, character, &c., so to say 
it does not mean the ending of the thing to which it refers, 
is false. So when God says the man — the wicked shall be 
destroyed and perish, it is evasion, or " adding to his 
w^ords," to say the wicked themselves are not meant. 

ANOTHER CLASS OF TEXTS PROVING DESTRUCTION. 

As I am arguing with the orthodox and not Universal- 
ists and Eestorationists, I bring another class of texts as 
positive proof of destructio7i^ viz., those which tell of the 
cleanings of the universe from " the last enemy," or all evil. 
If governments have the poioer^ they put an end to rebel- 
lion, by killing ofl* some of the rebels, and then it is pro- 
perly said, peace and '* reconciliation'''' are restored. I kind- 
ly ask Universalists to keep in mind this idea, while I take 
from them these strong texts on which they rely, and ap- 
ply them to prove my views. 

Acts 3 : 21, ^' Whom the heavens must receive until the 
times of restitution all things?'' 

It will be a strange restitution^^ if more misery and sin 
is produced when Christ comes than ever existed before I 
This must be, if the popular theory be correct ; for all 
sinners are not now miserable nor very bad — in their hell 
they w^ould all be so. 

1 Cor. 15 : 25, 26, " For he must reign till he hath put 
all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be 
destroyed is death." Are sinners and sin ^' enemies'''' to 
Christ ? If so, they will be " destroyed." Christ is said 
to put enemies under his feet." To have eternal groan- 
ing and cursing in a ''footstool" would not seemXo be 
pleasant.* This is a Bible expression for utt^r destruction 



* The American Tract Society published a tract, No. 277, by James Sau- 



SIN AND WOE TO BE ENDED IN THE UNIVERSE. 



of eaemies ; see Sam. 3 : 34 ; Mai. 4:3; Eom. 16 : 20, and 
when men say it means only to ^ shut them up^^ they add to 
God's word. 

Heb. 2:8; 1:13; are similar. Eph. 1 : 10/' That in 
the fulness of times he might gather together in one all 
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are 
on earth, even in him." 

Phil. 2 : 10, 11, That at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and 
things under the earth. And that every tongue should 
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father." 

Col. 1 : 19, 20, 24, For it pleased the Father, that in 
him should all fullness (power) dwell ; and by him to re- 
concile all things unto himself ; by him, I say, whether 
they be things in earthy or things in heaven ; and you that 

were sometime ahenated and enemies yet now hath he 

reconciled^ The last clause tells what " reconcile" means. 

Eev. 5 : 13, ^' And eYQVj creature v^hich. is in heaven^ and 
on the earthy and under the earth. ..^SS. that are in them, 
heard I, saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, 
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb for ever and ever." 

Eev. 21 : 4, " And there shall be no more death,, neither 
sorrow nov crying.,. nov any more pain, for the former things 
are passed away." V. 5, " And he that sat upon the 
throne, said, " Behold I make all things 72fz/-." 

Ps. 2 : 9, Thou (Christ) shalt break them with a rod of 
iron ; (all the wicked of the earth) thou shalt dash them in 
pieces like a potter's vessel." 

1 John 3 : 8, puts in the key-stone of this class of texts. 
" For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he 
might destroy the works of the devil — he that committeth 
sin is of the devil.''^ See also Eom. 14 : 11, and 2 Cor. 5 : 
19.— (Ten texts.) 

These ten texts, and others quoted by L^niversalists, 

rin, which says — " The wicked (in the fire of hell) utter as many blasphemies 
against God, as the happy souls in heaven shout hallelujahs to his praise." — 
A certain king ordered a servant to cry at his door daily — ' thou art mortal. 
— will God need these '' curses'' to keep him humble 7 He adds — ''This 
threatening is a mortal poison, diffusing itself into every period of my life, 
and making life itself a bitter." 



24 



DEATH NOT LITE. 



would fully confirm their doctrine, were they not over- 
vjhelmed by the previous 200 for destruction. The fact 
is, and Eestorationists see it — if the wicked are immortal, 
their doctrine is true. 

I can only notice briefly some of the expressions in these 
ten texts. " Heaven and earth," Prof Stuart says, " was 
a Hebrew phrase for the universe," and it is seen to be so 
from their views of astronomy^ and the fact that Bible lan- 
guage is accommodated to their \dews. 

I ask (1.) where the wicked and devils will be when " all 
things (in the universe) are reconciled to God" ? Col. 1 : 
20, Where when " every creature (in the universe) give 
glory and honor^'^ &c., Eev. 5: 13? (2.) When God 

makes all things neiv,^^ "what will hell be? Eev. 21 : 5. 
(3.) Divines tells us "death" and "second death," mean^^c? 
be tormented^^ and Eev. 21:4, says, " There shall be no 
more death^'' — how then can there be tormeyit^ if death and 
torment be s3'nonymous ? 0, consistency, thou art a jewel. 

(4.) We are told by teachers that there " being no more 
sorrow nor pain," means, ' there will be yione in heaven' ; 
but why then does the Bible not say so ? " Add not unto 
his words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." 
Prov. 30 : 6. 

(5.) Creed makers say, "Bowing the knee and confessing 
to the glory of God," ' may be done by the wicked,' — does 
it not look like a strange " glory" to confess God is a 
'powerful tyrant ? Certainly this must be the confession, 
unless the wicked are reconciled to God's character, and 
if so reconciled, and they have " a gnawing conscience," as 
is told of, why will God keep them in hell ? Is he to change 
his character, and like the devil, delight in torment ? 

(6.) " x\ll things in the universe ^ve to he gathered in 
one, and Christ." Eph. 1 : 10. What expounder can 
tell us how our modern hell, with its legions, is to be 
" gathered with all things in ChrisV ? 

By reading these ten texts over, it is plainly seen that 
they all refer to the final result of Christ's mediatorial work ; 
and, of course, we might expect to learn from them what 
the consequences of sin will be, and what the state of the 
universe will be when " the kingdom is given up to the 
Father." The finishing work of Christ, and the state of 
things that follow, are here told over and over, as if the 



SIN AND WOE TO BE ENDED IN THE UNIVERSE. 



25 



Spirit de5io:ned to make them perfectly plain, in or ler to 
reconcile and cheer saints under the woes of temporary 
evil. 

A plain common sense explanation of them all, is briefly 
_2:iven by Melville, of England, an able orthodox divine, 
in a sermon on 1 Cor 15 : 2.^, entitled the Termination of 
the Z^Led'/^torial Kinirdom,'' on pagre 147, he says — '-The 
grand design of redemption has all along been the extermi- 
nation of evil from the universe, and the restoration of har- 
mony throughout God's disorganized empire. It was the 
main purpose of the Almighty to counteract evil— to obli- 
terate the stains from his workmanship, and to reinstate 
and confirm the universe in its original purity. To effect 
this, his Son assumed our nature; (Heb. 2: 14,) and in 
working out the reconciliation of an alienated tribe, results 
must extend themselves to every department of creation : 
(to things in heaven and things in earth, )'\.. page 148, ^^Christ 
is appointed to subdue principalities and powers. He 
must reign till all enemies are destroyed. Then will evil 
be finally expelled from the universe ; and God may again 
look forth on his unlimited empire, and declare it not de- 
filed by a solitary stain ; — then will be the ' restitution of 
all things, '...Christ imist master evil under its every fonii^ 
and in its every consequence..,. hX last, death itself being 
^ swallowed up in victory' — the universe purged from all 
pollution, and glowing with a richer than its pristine beauty 
— this will be evidence that there has been a Mediatorial 
kingdom., and that nothing could withstand the mediator's 
sovereignty."" Page 149, When the conquest of satan, 
and extirpation of evil are accomplished ; and uo possibih- 
ty existing that evil may again re-enter the universe, the 
mediatorial kingdom maybe expected to cease — God will 
be ivorshipped by the vjhole intelligent creation?^ 

1 know that many will, even sneeringly say, ^ this is a 
TJniversalist explanation' ; but It is the only one that can 
be given without using jesuistic sophistr}'', and murdering 
* the king's English.' But Melville was not a Universal- 
ist ; for on page 53 he says, ^' The original cdrse was a 
cur.%e of death on the ichoh man.^'^ This and other remarks 
show he ht^id to destrrution. He also shows that Christ is 
DOW the only " tree of /i/e/' not a tree" of refuge from 
heU torments. 



26 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



INFERENTIAL TEXTS. 
* 

Another dass of texts which indirect!}^ but stror glv pre ve 
destruction, are those which promise life to the righteous. 
All know that life is the opposite of deatJi. Life and live 
are applied to the believer 214 times in the Bibfe. Its pri- 
mary meaning is existence ; but suppose we call it happi- 
ness^ and try how it would sound. That man has a happy 
that is, he has a ha.ppij happiness I Another man 
has a miser aUe life is to say, he has a miserable 

happiness I 

Job asks, Why is life given to the bitter in soul V — 
Did he mean, "Why give happiness to the bitter,'' &c. ? 
* Oh, no, it means existence, except where it interferes with 
the darling system of immortal soulism,' seems to be the 
answer. The seven texts I have quoted would annihilate 
this system, unless life was wrested from its proper sense — 
lose life in the world to come — not see /z/^," &c. John 
3: 36. 

Why did Christ not say, " Ye will not come to me that 
ye might have happiness^'' — " I give unto them eternal hap- 
piness^ and they shall never be miserable^ He knew the 
word makanios (happy) as well as zoe (life), and uses it nine 
times in Matt. 5, translated " blessed." " I set before you 
life and death^'^ is the theme of both Testaments. Why 
did Christ promise eternal " forty-two times, and 
everlasting happiness not once ? " The glory that shall be 
revealed," and like expressions show plainly this life will be 
a happy one ; and of course " heirs with Christ" will be so. 
" Christ came to give Hfe," and why promise it so often, if 
ail men had it by creation ?" Mr. Blindman says, I see 
plainly why."— Bunyan. 

As then these 214 texts promise, and tell of literal life, 
the penalty was final literal death. As T have said, if this 
was not the penaky, but life in woe, then Christ has not 
*^ given life" to the behever, nor paid the penalty as he did 
not suffer endless vroe. Did the " tree of life^"^ mean a tree 
of happiness ? Since Adam was driven from that tree, 
Christ takes its place, and we must " eat his flesh," &c., or 
die. 

In the few texts where life and deoZh are used figurative- 



LIFE MEANS LfFE. 



27 



ly, the context shows they are so used. " We know we 
ho.ve passed from death unto Zz/e,'- is made plain by the 
one, he that beheveth not is condemned already" — con- 
demned to die. The murderer is in a state of deaths doom- 
ed to die, but if forgiven, he passes ^o a state of hfe — so 
with the forgiven sinner. Glory to God for this state. — 
Paul says, I was alive without the law, but when the 
commandment came, sin revived and I died" — died to all 
hope from, and dependence on the law and his own works, 
or righteousness. Eph. 2: I, '-You hath he quickened, 
who were dead in trespasses and sins." V. 3, Were chil- 
dren of wrath," explains this verse; z. they were in a 
state of death, ^'condemned (to die) already," and were '^in 
sin," were sinners and doomed to die. Divines make the 
people believe that dea.th and sin here is one thing, and 
that to be dead is only to be a sinner ; and then cry out, 
death does not mean loss of life or existence. Let us see 
hovv' correct they are. Sin entered into the world, and 
death hj sin : and so death passed upon all men, for (be- 
cause) that all have sinned." Eom. 5 : 12. V. 17, " By one 
man's offence death reigned." V. 21, "Sin hath reigned 
unto death, so grace reigns.. ..unto eternal life^ We see 
here the Bible and men do not agree — sin and death are two 
things. 

Let me see if I can make this text plain : — The murderer 
is dead\xi\2c^v^ and is "in sin" — is a transgressor, but he 
finds to his sorrow, that si^i and dying are two very dif- 
ferent things, though sin causes bis death. So the threat- 
ening " thou shalt die," is perverted to mean moral death. 
How does it sound ? ' If yon sin. you shall be a sinner"^ I 
Adam became a sinner transgressed, but that was 

not the penalty — that was death. Thus the Bible is 
" wrested" to make out that life and death ^tq figurative^ 
and do not mean existence^ when they tell our tinal doom. 
Thus all the texts where life and death are used figurative- 
ly, can be easily explained, without murdering language. 

But now turn to the 114 texts where life tells the state 
and final reward of the righteous ; and to the fifty-three 
where die and death apply to the sinner's final doom, and 
you will see they must be taken in theu^ literal sense. Mys- 
tifying these words has thrown dvM. into the eyes of Chris- 
tiaD3 long enough. These 214 texts then are strong in- 
ferential proof of destructidn. ■ 



28 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



Since writing the above, I have read with can*, Frof 
Stuart's ten pages (page 94-104) in which he labors to 
make life and death figurative when applied to our linal 
reward, and I pronounce his argument a ''cunnini^ly devised 
fable." 2 Pet. 1 : 16. But he held to immortality, and 
was opposing Universahsts and had no other way to meet 
them, nor to harmoni/.e immortality with the threatening 
of death, than by making it mean life in misery. He says, 
Should one range the whole compass of human language, 
he could find no two terms so significant as these, (life and 
death,) in order to designate the joys of heaven, or the 
pains of hell. To do this, they must indeed be figuratively 
employed. But the same is true of all other words that 
are or could be used for the same purpose." I ask if " joy, 
glory, peace, rest, blessed," &c., are used ^^figuratively'''' 
when they are applied to the heavenly state ? Are they 
not more significant" than life ? Christ came to give 
us /z/e," so that we could have glory, joy, &c. ; but the life 
and the Joy and glory are two very different things. 

Again, I ask if pain, torment," (fee, are not more " sig- 
nificant terms" to tell a state of woe, than " death" is ? 1 
ask too if ^' they 7nust be figurative^ as he says, when used 
to designate" such a state? 

With my scanty knowledge, I think Stuart had need to 
range the compass of human language" again. If the 
threatening of death to Adam meant 'loss of holiness, or 
spiritual death,' then what will " the second deajh" be? 
Will they only become sinners the second time ? If eat- 
ing of the tree of /?/e," did not mean the obtaining of exists 
ence^ then it meant the obtaining of holiness or spiritual 
life. Did God wish to prevent this by shutting out of the 
garden ? The same thins; lost by the first tree, was to be 
gained by the second. The truth is, God did not mean to 
have man live for ever in a state of sin, and thanks to his 
name, he will accomplish his object. 

The argument or doctrine that the death threatened to 
Adam, im.phed a compound of spiritual, temporal, and eter- 
nal death.— latter implying life in torment a com- 
pol"n:^ O'tsu :iim(ite folly / / 

i.am - - "C'uiversalist friends, that this remark hits 
you in part, as you too saj' the threatening implied spiri- 
tual deaths though not etetnal wd6. But it i6'gtK>d to be 
right in part 



PERVERSION or THE BIBLE. 



29 



A BRIEF REVIEW. 

First. — Do not these 210 passages afford moral dcLion- 
stration that the wicked are w.crtc/}, <oul and body, and 
will cease to he when the sentence of the judo-nient is exe- 
cuted as is the sentence otthe jiulce on the capital ofiender? 
I athrm that no doctrine of tlie Bible is as dearly and abun- 
dant fy proved, except the bein^i^ and atiribiites of the 
Deity, and the assurance of eternal life ibr the righteous. 
No doctrines but these have as large a number of texts on 
which to rest. Keason vvouLi dictate X\iV..tX\\Q penalty of 
God's kiw would be made a^ full and plain as promises. 
The semi-civilized Chinese seem to understand the impor- 
tance of this principle, as it is said they cause their i:)enal 
code to be read to all the people yearly. 

I am often met with the remark, that we cannot found 
a doctrine on particular terms, and so the above terms fail 
to help me. This is false, where words are plain, numer- 
ous and to one point. How do we prove the atonement 
except by the terms " Christ died for our sins,'- — " gave 
his life for us," &c. ? These terms are plain, and so are 
those for destruction. The papal doctrine of the power of 
the pope and priests, founded on the terms Keys of the 
kingdoiTi of heaven," and what ye bind on earth," &c., is 
a specimen of relying on a few terms — and mind too these 
are figurative. Besides, comparisons help these terms, — 
as " chaff," " tares," " destroyed as beasts," &c. 

I remark secondly^ I have quoted about twenty words 
and phrases, which are about 400 times used, one-half giv- 
ing _^j)6'5iY2r^, and the other half strong inferential proof of 
destruction ; and all these expressions by the Holy Spirit, 
are, and must be changed from their primary, to a figura- 
tive sense to disprove the doctrine, and sustain the popular 
penalty. Ponder them well, dear reader, and you will see I 
am not mistaken ; God's book is before you. 

I assert, without fear of refutation, that another such a 
wholesale perversion of God's word cannot be found, and 
was never made in Christendom. Other truths have been 
cried down, and other errors held up, by changmg the 
common sense meaning of a feio texts, or terms, but here 
is wholesale work with a vengeance, I am giving/ac^5, and 
not opinions. 



80 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



It is a notorious fact^ that in our theological wcnrks, a 
nondescript dictionary is made, with definitions as follows 
—To he deacl^ means to be more conscious : to die^ is to 
live on in woe. To lose life^ is to preserve a miserable ex- 
istence. Life means happiness. To burn up^ to make a 
livino- salamander. To destroy^ is to preserve whole. To 
devour^ perish.^ consume^ &c., means to make indestructible 
and inirnortcd. Not to he^ to be without end. 

Of course, reasons are assigned, and excuses made for 
askino the people to accept this dictionary, and approve its 
definitions. 

The sum of all the reasons is, that the wicked are immor- 
tal, and so these terms must be thus wrested from their 
literal meaning. 

But how is this immortality proved ? 

I will notice briefly in this and the next chapter the main 
arguments, except the one that the wicked are to suffer for 
ever J leaving this for the following chapters. 

THE RESOPwT TO THE BIBLE TO PROVE IMMORTALITY. 

Two texts are commonly quoted to prove we were 
created immortcd. Gen 1 : 27, So God created man iu 
his own image." Dr. Dwight, in sermon 22, says, " Being 
made in the image of God," means being so in knoivledge 
and holiness^ and quotes as proof Gol. 3 : 10, And have 
put on the new man, which is renewed in knoivledge after 
the image of him that created him." Eph. 4 : 24, " Put 
on the new man, which after God is created in righteous- 
7iess and true holiness:'^ Here we are plainly told what 
was meant by the image o{ God, QA\di immortality happens 
not to be the quality or hkeness. 

The idea is, God had created animals, and now^ wished 
to create one out of the same dust of the earth," with 
knowledge sufficient to possess a moral character, hke him- 
self Dr. Dwight says, " This is the broad distinction be- 
tiveen men and animals^ Ser. 22. 

We have found out, by experience, that we were not 
made in God's image ov likeness^ as to power ^ omnipotence^ 
&c., but w^e will have to live through eternity^ before we 
learn we were made immortal^ unless he tells us so ; which 
He certainly has not done in the Bible ; that promises it 
to those who seek for it." Bom. 2 : 7. 



THE RESORT TO THE BIBLE, 



31 



Bishop Whately justly says. The words life and im- 
mortality, are never applied to the condition of the wicked 
in the Scriptures." Weak or deluded must be the head 
which can see the least particle of proof for immortahty in 
this text : yet a college learned (not "Bible) Bapti:-t niinis- 
ter, lately referred me to this text as proof of immortality, 
and it is a con^^raon refuge. Verily, ' drowning men catch 
at a straw.' The ' dark ages' are not pa-t. 

The other text to prove man vv as made immortal, or with 
an immortal soul, is Gen. 2: 7, "And the Lord God fonu- 
ed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of lives, (plural) : ar^^ m:in oecame a 
living soul," [creature.^ as the original sigri.: :-.) Note — 
^' Man was made of the dust /" so if " brea ,1. ' ; .leaiit a soul 
or living entity, another part, that was not the man^' for 
• the man v/as " clusV- — dust tliou art,"' not thy oody is 
dust, as divines make it mean, by adding to what is vvU'it- 
ten. But 5(92<:/ has become, a great word in the IQth cen- 
tury. Let us see what it meant in Bible time?. In this 
text it is said, ^* And man became a {jicpliesh diciijiali^ 
a hving soul," Gen. 1 : 24 reads, Let the eartli bring- 
forth the {nepkesh cha.yiah) living creature after his kind, 
cattle and creeping things." Gen. 2 : 19, " The Lord 
formed every beast... and brought them unto Ad am.... and 
whatsoever Adam called every {nepkesh civ yicuC) living 
creature, that was the name thereof" Gen. G : 19, And 
of every {nephesh chayiah) living thing of all flesh. ...shalt 
thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee."— 
Here and in more than twenty other places, the same words 
translated '-^ living soul ^' ^ve apphed to beasts; but the 
translators have them, living creature or things &c. Chay- 
iah^ is living^ soman became a living creature" or livirig 
soul ; and if this means an immortal soul, then 'all beasts 
and creeping things have such. Thus we see the unlearn- 
ed are kept in ignorance by deceitful translators, and the 
learned expounders keep up the deception, and v. ill not 
make " the vision plain." 

But as I have thus censured, and the subject is of im- 
portance, it is necessary to add something more. 



32 



DEATH NOT LITE. 



ERRORS IX OUR TRANSLATION. 

O .rpption has been practiced by the translators, and 
espeeia]]}' by learned expounders, in relation to the five 
original words translated soul and spirit. The learned tell 
US SGul and spirit, means part of man which is immortal^ 
and so cannot die^^ perish. &c. Let ns see briefly what 
faithful ioarned critics and the Bible tea :hes as to the words 
nes/}ie, ^tpiiesJi^ ruach^ ^e\}YQ\x^ ^.^a i^suche and jr^icuinay 
Greek, translated soul and spirit. 

(1.) Xcsnip. — Taylor, in his Hebrew Concordance, says, 
Xcsme signifies the chamelion, a kind of lizard, which al- 
vrays has its mouth open, gaping for the air, upon which 
it is said to live." In 1 Kings 17 : 17, we read, His sick- 
ness was so sore, that there was no breath {ncsme) left in 
him." In v. 21, ^' Elijah cried, let this child's soul {nepheshy 
same as ncsyne,^ come in him again." 

' Here,* say divines, ' is proof that man has a soul which 
leaves ihe body when he dies.' If this is not perverting 
God's Vvord, both bv the translators and expounders, I 
ask ^^ hat is ? 

(2.) Xiphesh. — Parkhurst says, As a noun, it has been 
supposed to signify the spiritual part oim^u^oY what is call- 
ed his soid. I must, for myself, confess that I can find no 
passage v/here it hath undoubtedly this meaning." Tay- 
lor says, Xcphesh signifies the animal life, or that princi- 
ple by which every animal lives.'' He does not even inti- 
mate that it ever signifies an immortal soul ^ which survives 
the death of the body." Yet this Hebrew word is trans- 
lated soul 471 times, and life and live about 150 times; 
also, Tiian,^ person^ self^ they, him, me, breath, heart, mind, 
appetite, the body^ lust^ creature, and twenty-eight times 
applied to beasts^ and every creeping thing. Thus we &<ee 
liow easy it is for the unlearned to be deceived about the 
meaning of the word soul. 

(3.) Jluach. — Taylor says, " It first and properly signi- 
fies the uji?id, air, breath.^^ Corruption in its translation 
and explanation, is seen in Ecc. 3: 19-21. ''-They (men 
and beasts,) have all one breath, {ruach).'^^ Y. 21, li is 
" who knoweth the spirit {ruach) of men that goeth up- 
ward, and the spirit [ruach) of the beast that goeth down- 



ERRORS IN OUR TRANSLATION. 



33 



ward to the earth"? Here again we see how the >;hurch 
is kept in the dark, by being taught that breath and spirit 
mean two things, in such texts. Here too we see how ab- 
surdly men reason, or think ; if spirit means an immortal 
part of creatures on earth, then hedsts have such a part, 
and it goeth downwards." 

(4.) The Greek word psitche has the same meaning as 
nepheshm Hebrew^; and Parkhurst's first sense of it is, 

breathy animal life^ a living animal thathves by breath- 
ing," &c. It is used 105 times in the T., and translat- 
ed soul fifty-nine times, and life forty; also, mind^ usj 
hea/t, and twice appUed to beasts. Eev. 8:9; 16 : 3. 

The deception in translating it 5oz^/ instead of life is seen 
plainly in Mat. 16 : 25-26, and Mark 8 : 36-37, w^here it is 
rendered four times life and four times soul. V. 25 is for 
whosoever will saveliis life {psttche) shall lose it." V. 26, 
" For what is a man protitted if he shall gain the whole 
world and lose his owm soul [psuclieY ^ The learned tell 
the people t\\^i psuche [life) in v. 25 means literal Ufe, and 
we should lose it, if need be, in persecutions: but in v. 26, 
they say, the same word, psuche [Hfe)^ means an immortal 
soul which cannot lose life, or die. But they are careful 
not to tell them the original words are the same. 

Had p)sucke been rightly rendered in these texts, no one 
would have thought of going to them to prove that men 
have immortal souls to lose in the world to come. They 
will have resurrected lives to lose there ; and Christ says, 
positively, that those who will not bear persecution for his 
sake shall lose them there. 

(5.) The Greek word pneuma is the same as the He- 
j brew word riiach : see its meaning above. It is rendered 

both spirit and life. Eev. 13 : 15, And he had power to 
give pyieuina. li' e. unto the image," &c. James 2: 26, 
" For as the body without the pneuma^ spirit, is dead," 
&c. In both these texts the translators put it breath in 
the margin, as being as right as spirit and life ; and why do 
they do it if pneuma meant an immortal part of man*^? — 
Butterworth gives spirit seventeen meanings in the Bible, 
and we should think it rather a changeable word upon 
which to found proof of man's immortality. 

NoTTi B.— The menning of these five Heb^e^v and Gre^k terms I liavo » 

i 

1. 



34 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



Here we have all the Bible proofs that man was made 
with ail immortal soul — even two texts, and the uncertain 
words soul *and spirit — rather an airy foundation, good 
sense will say, even if there were no opposing texts. 

I need quote but three opposing texts out of many to 
show the folly of popular expositions : — Job 4:17,'* Shall 
mortal man be more just than God ?" At your peril, 
" add not to the words of the book," and say it only means 
a " mortal hodyP Eom. 2 : 7, tells us that those who 
" seek for immortality'''^ will have " eternal life." 1 Tim. 
6 : 16, " God only hath immortality^ 

If one-quarter the time had been spent in examining the 
doctrine of destruction, which has been spent on the far 
less important matters of Baptism, Armenianism, Calvin- 
ism, church order, &c., endless misery would now be 
'among the things that were? 

But 1 turn to another reason for changing terms for 
destruction from their literal sense. 



CHAPTEE IL 



METAPHYSICAL REASONS FOR IMMORTALITr. 

That the light of reason shows man to be iximortal, \s 
being given up by all deep thinkers, as an absurdity ; bat 
as the mass of ministers are still using the by-gone argu- 
ments, and Christians have learned the lesson, and are re- 
peating it, I will glance at the subject 
• The great cry against us is mate7'ialis77i !! A few wri- 
ters of late, such as Eev. L. Lee, of New" York, Eev. J. 
G. Stearns, of Western New York, and a learned Baptist 
editor of our State, have sounded this alarm, and repeated 
the old story, that man has a soiilov spirit which is a sim- 
ple substance, indivisible, im^material, uncompounded, and 
so indestructible. I ask, why undertake to describe what 
they know nothing about ? and of which all other m.en are 
equally ignorant ? 

Mr. Geo. Oombe, on materialism^ says, The cjuestion 
13 a vain and trivial one. Nothing can be more unphilo- 
sophical than the clamor about the danger attendina: it. 
A m.anly ioteHect will dissipate this clamiOr, by showing 
the question is altogether an illusion. The solution of the 
question as to the essence of the scul, appears to be com- 
pletely beyond our reach. No idea can be more erroneous 
than to suppos© man is an immortal beinj on aocount of 



36 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



the substance of which he is made." Syst. of Phren. pp. 
595-7. 

Says Dr. Sperzhiein, Nature has denied to man powers 
to discover, as a matter of direct j^erception^ either the hs- 
ginning or end^ or essence of any thing nnder the sun ; 
they are interdicted regions." On these statements a learn- 
ed writer remarks, Modern philosophers are aware of 
this, but fear to confess it, lest they should be branded 
with the name oi materialists,'''' 

Watson, the great Methodist writer, says, *• Some sup- 
pose consciousness is an essential attribute of spirit: and the 
soul is naturally immortal ; the former of w^hich cannot be 
proved, while the latter is contradicted by the Bible, which 
makes our immortality a gift, dependent on the will of the 
give]'."' — Institutes^ v. 2, p. 82-3. 

Dr. Dwight assumes that the soul is immortal, but was 
compelled to say, "Whatever has been created, can cer- 
tainly be annihilated. The continuance of the soul must, 
tbererore, depend absolutely on the vvill of God." — VcL 1, 
p. 163. 

Dr. J. Lock, Esq., the great mental philosopher and 
Ciu'istian, who held to destruction, says, " It is as difficult 
to conceive how any created substamce should think and 
fccK as it is that our brain should think and feel." This is 
good sense, for God can superadd to any substance, any 
(jiiaiity he pleases. But it was easy for weaker heads than 
Dr. Lock's to put down his theory, because he introduced 
something xew — not found io any old theological creed ! ! 
Matter is a suhstance^ and what divines call a soul^ must 
be a created substance^ or it is nothing — a nonentity. 

The plea that ojialogy shows nothing is annihilated, and 
therefore the wicked cannot be. Is a full-grown absurdity; 
for Hi ark. it is life^ or conscious existence, we say is to cease ; 
not matter or substance of any kind. And besides, it de- 
nies the Bible and God's power, to say he can ''^create" 
but Q?,v.not destroy." James 4:12. When an ox or a 
man is dead, life is annihilated, but not matter. All men 
of sense say they know not what life is ; and to tell of a 
''principle of life, vrhich continues when man is dead," is 
only nonsense. 

Some I find, even in our boasted day of knowledge, yet 
hold the heathen dogma, that our souls are a part of God, 



THE MEfAPHYSICAL ARGUMENT. 



87 



''breathed into us." Of course then he is divided, and 
sinning, and suffering in every polluted child of Adam ! — 
Yes, and he means to send a part of himself to eternal 
flames ! But we are told that which thinks, remembers, 
&c., cannot be matter, therefore man must have a soul^ 
composed of some other substance^ A sufficient answer 
to this reiterated argument, as to my doctrine, is this — 
supjjose man has a separate part, or soul, which is made of 
such other substance, cannot God disorganize, or destroy, 
or annihilate^ if you please, that created substance as easily 
as he can matter? has he said He cannot, or will 
not do it? — ivhere? He has said the soul shall die, 
perish," &c. 

When pressed with the argument, that brutes think, re- 
member, feel, &c., and asked if they have souls made of 
this other jDCculiar substance ? — some now say they have, 
and are immortal ! Thus they have a new assumption^ 
wedged under assumptions to hold up a system they see 
begins to totter. 

It is a pity that all have not the humility and wisdom of 
Bishop Watson, who says, " I have read volumes on the 
nature of the soul, but I have no scruple in saying I know 
nothing about it. Hoping as I do for eternal life. through 
Jesus Christ, I am not disturbed at my inability to clearly 
convince myself that the soul is, oris not, a substance dis- 
tinct from the body." — Memoirs p. 23. 

Dr. McCulioh, of Baltimore, says, '' There is no word in 
the Hebrew language that signifies either soul or spirit in 
the technical sense in which we use the terms as implying 
something distinct from the body." He adds, " A 50?^/ 
was first inferred from seeing that the body turned to dust, 
and not seeing hoiv it could be raised and its identity re- 
stored or continued, men concluded there must be a part of 
man that hved on." — Y. 2, p. 466-3. 

The mass of ministers are '-''inferring'- and erring in the 
same way. I only need to remark, ' Ye do err, not know- 
ing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Matt. 22 : 29. 

The Sadducees saw^ that their Scriptures said nothing 
of a soul which ' hved on,' and they had too much sense to 
infer a doctrine ; but, like divines now, they vainly denied 
the ^'"power of God" to restore a man when wholly turned 
to dust, and so unavoidably denied a resurrection. Their 



38 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



error, and that of modern semi-SadduceeSj lies in denying 

God's poiver. 

Let us illustrate and make this metaphysical argument 
be fully seen if possible. Suppose an astronomer says — 
there are men in the moon, and they are ten feet high, and 
made of electricity, therefore they will live for ever. In 
such a case, we would ask for his telescope to prove men 
were there : next, we would ask how he proved by their size 
and substance^ they would live forever ? We would na- 
turally enquire too, by what chemical process he ascertain- 
ed what they were made of, seeing he had not come in con- 
tact with them? . Surely we have not come in contact with 
the substance of a so-called soiil^ any more than with men 
in the moon. It seems to me that the crucible by which 
men try the quality or essence of the soul, must ba some- 
thing like what they say the soul itself is^ immaterial — not 
tangible to the five senses, nor yet to our mental vision : I 
have never seen the thing. But perhaps my vision is ob- 
scure since I emerged from the cell of tradition. 

Let any one read Dwight, Edwards, and other old 
writers on the immortality of man, and then notice the 
preaching and talk of the present day, and he will be re- 
minded of these lines, 

The parrot prates, it knows not what, 
For all it says it learned by rote/' 

I will try and not be more light, when on a serious 
subject, than was Elijah when he said to the prophets of 
Baal — Crv aloud, for he is God; peradventure he sleep- 
eth." 

The Neiv York Recorder, of May 1 1, 1853, which I have 
just seen, charges destructionists with being modern Sad- 
ducees. Am.ong other absurd inferences, and false 
charges, (and they are all such.) I have only time to notice 
two. If man has no immortal spirit of which the body 
is the dwelling-place, there can be no preservation of per- 
sonal identity at the resurrection ; and if God reanimates 
the dust, ii: will be completely a new creation/' 

I tiike the liberty to affirm that it is rank Saddiiceeism to 
assert that God cannot raise the dead — the whole man — 
from unconscious " dust," to which he has returned," as 



THE METAPHYSICAL ARGUMENT. 



39 



God said he should, and continue his identity. It plainly 
contradicts the Bible to say, that such a resurrection would 
be a ^7ieiv creation,'' See this proved in 1 Cor. 15. 

The chemist, in his retort^ or jar of oxygen gass, burns 
iron Avire to invisible gas, and then by acids brings that 
gas back to iron ; and I ask if this is a new creation ? — 
This speck of earth is God Alraighty's retort ov jar^ and 
he can decompose any organized substance or thing he has 
made and placed in this jar, and then bring the same sim- 
ple elements back to their former organized state ; and do 
it with more ease than the chemist does his work. 

And further — to restore consciousness and' continue 
identity in our reorganized systems, will be no more a mira- 
cle of power and wisdom, than it was to bestow them at 
first. How came our food to digest and change the sim- 
ple elements of inert and unconscious matter into a con- 
scious body or brain ? 

The common or general creed theory is, that some 
other substance, called the sold, is some how infused into 
these particles of matter and makes them conscious, or is 
itself the conscious thing. This brings up Dr. John Lock's 
question, viz., how came that other created substance call- 
ed a soul, to possess consciousness and identity ? The an- 
swer must unavoidably be, God's power and wisdom ef- 
fected it ; and this brings us back to the starting point, 
namely, that God's power has made us conscious beings in 
a way we cannot possibly comprehend. 

Aspiring to be Gods, if angels fell, 
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel." 

If we cannot conceive hoiowe became conscious beings 
and possessed identity, nor hoiv any other created sub- 
stance possesses these qualities, neither can we conceive hoiv 
we shall become beings with these qualities by a resurrec- 
tion. But to deny God's power and wisdom to effect it, 
is just what the Sadducees denied as to a resurrection. — 
Their denying: that anorsls, or any other created spiritual 
bein::s existed, wa- r-:r,'.hj inferred : and was just r^uch an 
inference as the Recorder has made ; for he says, •* that 
minds sufficiently intelligent to form a coherent system, see 
that this new Sadduceeism (destructioaism,) is a denial 
of all spiritual esistenee whatever.'- 



40 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



Paul in 1 Cor. 15 : 44, says, It is sown a natural bojj, 
it is raised a spiritual body." This we believe, and this is 
our hope, and how then does our theory deny spiritual ex- 
istence '? 

Mark 12: 25, says, '''When we rise" we are to be as 
the angels.'' If our spiritual body" is to be as the an- 
geh^^- how do we deny thei?' existence ? The inference is 
an absurd one, and yet upon it the editor founds a column 
of dismal consequences ahd outrageous slander. 

But to avoid being called Sadducees, the Recorder ^ 
Co., have invented an ^eighth wonder of the world,' viz., 
that a dead 77ia?ihe]ng raised vj) from the grave, means a 
live man coming down from heaven, or up from tartarus 
to be judged! This essentially denies a resurrection. It 
is not even intimated in the Bible. 

Let me hint an illustration. Suppose God should re- 
veal that he would give a resurrection to 2Xvdead butter- 
flies; and a commentator should say this means that he 
will send all live butterflies back to their old cat- 
terpillar shells, and make those shells better than they 
were originally, or were before they turned to dust : should 
we not say with Paul, ^'tJiou fool^'^ 'this would not be a resur- 
rection !' — the primary meaning of a resurrection is ' to 
stand up again,^ but this would be having the butterfly 
' stand doivn again.' 

But the Kecorder and brotherhood say our doctrine 
leads to infidelity and atheism. I can only give a short 
answer to this charge. 

We subscribe to God's power to make any substance 
possess consciousness and identity — to suspend, and then 
restore these qualities in that substance ; or, to- decompose 
man's organized body, and reorganize it with its former 
qualities — to end, for ever, the life of a man as well as of 
an ox— in short, that " he can do all his will and pleasure." 
The power and wisdom of God to do these things, these 
men deny.* 

Again*^, Peter says, in Acts 2 : 29, 34, ^' David is both 
deacfind buried," and ''David is not ascended into the 
heavens." These men say, ^ David is ?iot dead, and has 



* I am aware that some begin to back out of this denial, but most yet ooa* 
tinue it. 



THE METAPHYSICAL ARGUMENT, 



41 



ascended into heaven.' And our editor says, ''if God re- 
animates his dust, it will be completely a new creatioji'^ ; so 
of course David is to have no resurrection ! — and of coarse 
no other saints ! 

Once more — some heathen philosophers could not con- 
ceive hoiv any substance come to exist, and think, and feel, 
&c., and this led some to deny their oiun existence^ and 
others to say there was nothing but thouglits in existence. 
These men are on the same track, and where will they land, 
if they think deeply enough to pursue it ? 

Now I ask which of our systems of belief, looks the most 
like infidelity and atheism ? and also which has the nearest 
brotherhood to Sadduceeism ? 

But I must hasten to a close of this chapter. 

The plain common sense of all reasoning on this subject 
is this — it is a direct insult to the Almighty to say he has 
made any living being he cannot put an end to ; no matter 
how xaoxiy parts it possesses, nor of what sitbstance it is 
made. 

The Bible tells us plainly that men and beasts are made 
of the same material, — '' chist^-' — and that both have the 
"same breath"' — that they '' both die ahke" ; — but mark, 
a resurrection is not told for both. Ecc. 3 : 18-21. See 
many other positive texts. 

But as this point is not the object of this work, I leave 
it, hoping I have said enough to show the popular folly in 
reasoning on immortahty. All the Bible and metaphysical 
objections to the doctrine that dead men are dead^ have 
been fully removed by Eev. P. Ham, Eev. Geo. Storrs, 
Eev. Thos. Eeed, and others, and to their works I refer 
the reader. 

I should not have said thus much on this heathen — this 
pitiable prop of immortahty, had I not learned that it is 
noiv a great theme with ministers and dependent thinkers ; 
and found they were seizing hold of it as if it was a mighty 
dagger with w^hich to butcher destructionists. It is the 
only weapon of the Neiv York Recorder. As yet it falls 
harmlessly at our feet ; but it frightens many pupils or 
dazzles their eyes by its ghttering appearance. 

I am aware that those w^ho use these arguments appear 
to many sincere Christians like a peculiar character Milton 
tells of. ' who could make the w^orse appear the better rea- 
son.' 



42 



DEATH NOT LITE. 



A certain D.D. in B , lately found some of his flock 

inclined to grow in knowledge," and lie preached a ser- 
mon, by a notice, to sustain immortality ; and one of his 
most intelligent members told me he quoted bat one text 
of Scripture. " Philosophy and vain deceit, after tne tra- 
dition of men,'' was his theme/ Col. 2: 8, " Beware lest 
any man spoil you,^' &c. ! Since " those who turn the 
world upside down" came to this B— — , other ministers 
have taken a similar course. 

Why this appeal to reason, if the Bible, as they say, is 
full of immortahty ? Why prophecy false dreams, and 
cause the people to err ?" ''what is the chaff to the wheat ?" 
Jer. 23 : 28^32. 

But I must notice a 7ieiv, and the last refuge of our 
opponents — it is this — The Bible assumes that man is 
immortal" ! Three learned ministers, one an editor in 
In 8vv' York, lately made this their niain refuge in conver- 
sation with me. I was glad to find that destructionists 
had so far opened their ^eyes that they saw^ their old wea- 
pons were '' broken reeds." 

How does this look ? A weighty doctrine proved by 
tna silence o^ the Bible ! ! I would kindly say to such 
brethren, the time has come when many want, and all 
need, a " thus saitJi the Lord," for their belief; and many 
ifjill not^ and none should be satistied with what he saith 
}iot, 

I will just say a little on the reasoning to make this as- 
sumption appear plausible. First they say, '' Christ came 
to save us from endless misery." This is a new assumption, 
for the Bible nowhere says so — that says plainly he came 
to save from sin and death, and to give eternal life." 

Secondly— It is said, " Christ would not have suffered 
and died if the threatening ' thou shalt surely die,' meant 
no more than what it says." Or, in other words, '• it was 
a little work for Christ to onh^ save from blank oblivion." 
This is another and an insultio2' assumption. To bring up 
irom the gloomy grave nn innuuierable company," and 
give them etermd life^ and crowns of glory — make them 
"kings and priests unto G-od" — this a little ivork I — a 
work not worthy of a loving Saviour ! ! 

Eead Eph. 2: 7, and 3 : 10, and we see the " redeemed 
church" is " to make known the riches of God's grace and 



COXCLUDIXG REMARKS. 



43 



wisdom^ to principalities and powers- in heavenly places/' 
— thus glorify God, and make happier the whole universe 
through eternity — and yet this is a little work for Christ 
to effect by suffering for a death-doomed race ! ! " Ye are 
a chosen generation. ...ihut ye should s1k)w forth the praises 
of him who hath called you out of darhiess''' — of death 
and sin, not out of a modern hell. Heb. 2:9. 

Further — this reasoning is an insult to the/eeli?2gs of 
Christians, who are sustained in trials by the hope of eter- 
nal life and glory, and not b}' the thought of escaping woe, 
nor yet oblivion. But I cannot enlarge, and only 'add — 
away with such sophistry — blot it from the records of 
theology. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

I have now noticed, the principal tests of Scripture ex- 
cept those claimed as proof of endless woe ; and also the 
main reasons, relied on as proof, that all men were made, 
or are immortal, and as a consequence, have tested the 
authority, for changing from then* literal sense, the 200 or 
210 declarations for the proof of destruction. And 1 ask 
if the foundation for immortality, thus far examined, does 
not utterly fail ? For myself I answer, it is built on as- 
sumptions, piled on b:'iSc]e?s assumptions. 

Where does the book of nature^ or the book of God tell 
what 5(9 A^/, or man, is made of, except in the earth-wide and 
heaven broad declaration, " dust thou art''? Echo an- 
swers , WHERE I ! 

Wherein these two books do we learn, hy plain testi- 
mony, that any man has, or ever vrill have, immor- 
tality, only as vv-e learn it from the positive, :\.xid soul cheer- 
lag promises — •* I give unto them [^believers'] eternal life'' 
^' and I will raise them up at the last day'' — this mortal 
must put on inirnortcdity '' — neither can they die any 
mx^re" ? Again echo answers, where 1 



44 



DEATH NOT LIFE, 



I 
! 

MATTER CAPABLE OF THINKING. 

''The idea of matter is an extended, solid substance; wherever 
ti\ere is such a substance, thei e is matter, and the essence of mat- 
ter, whatever ofhei- qaalities, not contained in that essence, it shall 
please Go<l to superadd to it. For example, God creates an extend- 
ed, solid substance, without the supei-adding anythinij else to it, 
and so we may consider it at rest : to some parts of it he superadds 
motion, but it has still the essence of matter : other parts of it he 
frames into plants with all the excellence of vegetation, life, and 
beauty, which is to be found in a rose, or a peach-tree, &c., above 
the essence of matter, in general, but it still is but matter: to 
other parts he adds sense and spontaneous motion, and those other 
properties that are to be found in an elephant. Hitherto it is not 
doubted, but the power of God may go, and that the properties of 
a rose, a peach, or an elephant, superadded to matter, change not 
the properties of matter ; but matter is, in these things, matter 
still. But if one venture to go one step further, and say, God 
may give to matter, thought, reason, and volition, as well as sense 
and spontaneous motion, there are men ready presently to limit 
the power of the Omnipotent Creator, and tell us " he cannot do 
it, because it destroys the essence, or changes the essential proper- 
ties of matter." To make good which assertion, they have no 
more to say but that thought and reason are not included in the 
essence of matter. 1 grant it; but whatever excellency, not con- 
tained in its essence, be superadded to matter^ it does not destroy 
the essence of matter, if it leaves it an extended, solid substance; 
wherever that is, there is the essence of matter; and if everything 
of greater perfection, superadded to such a substance, destroys the 
essence of matter, what will become of the essence of matter in a 
plant or an animal, whose properties far exceed those of a mere 
extended, solid substance ? 

But it is farther urged, that we cannot conceive how matter can 
think. I grant it; but to argue from thence, that God, therefore, 
cannot give to matter a faculty of thinking, is to say. God's Omni- 
potency is limited to a narrow compass, because man's under- 
standing is so ; and brings down God's infinite power to the size 

of our capacities I cannot conceive how matter should think. 

What is the consequence ? ergo, (therefore,) God cannot give it a 
power to think. Let this stand for a good reason, and then pro- 
ceed with other cases by the same. You cannot conceive how 
matter can attract matter, at any distance, much less at the dis- 
tance of 1,000.000 miles ; ergo, God cannot jrive it such a power!" 
&c. — Locke to the Bishop of Worcester ; Works Fol. Ed, 1740, 
Vol, /, pp, 588, 589, 590-592. 



CHAPTEE in. 



HELL NOT A LOCAL PLACE TO CONTINUE ETERNALLY. 

As the word hell, fifty-four times found in our English 
Bible, is prominently used as either direct or inferential 
proof of the immortality and endless misery of the wicked, I 
will endeavor to remove this proof, by devoting a short 
chapter to the meaning of the word. It will also aid much 
in removing the proof claimed to be found in other texts. 

The following remarks on the term hell I published a 
few months since in a rehgious paper, -and give them here 
nearly as they appeared then, 

The brief explanations will be made up in the next 
chapter. 

The English word hell, as now generally understood, is 
a hindrance to those who are examining the doctrine of 
destruction ; but if rightly understood, it would greatly aid 
in proving the doctrine. It now denotes 2i 'place^ (no one 
dares say where), as a prison for the eternal misery of men 
and devils. I deny this meaning, and say, that none of the 
f(Hir oriLnnal words translated hell ever have this meaning, 
the Bible. I will endeavor to prove this asser- 
liuij, ouiu /lOin the iJible and the confessions of our best 
critics who hold to endless misery. 

In the first place^ let us hear what Drv Gfebrge Oamptrell, 



46 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



a Presbyterian commentator of Scotland, says on two 
v/ords translated hell. ' In my judgment,' he says, ^ hades 
O'joht never, in Scripture^ to be rendered hell : at least in 
t:ie sense Nvherein that word is now universally understood 
by Christians. In the 0. T., the cf)rrespondmg word is 
sLeol^ which signihes the state of the dead in general, with- 
out regard to the goodness or badness of persons, their 
happiness or misery. Hades signifies obscure, hidden, in- 
visible.' See Diss., vol. 1, pp. 180, 181. He elsewhere 
says, ^ The Saxon word hell originally meant only a pit, or 
covered place.- 

Sheol. — I will next quote from Exegetical Essays, on 
several words relatino; to future punishment, by iloses 
Stuart, Professor in the Theological Seminary at Andover. 
On page 93 he says, ' Sheol is used sixty-three times in the 
0. T., and translated Ae// thirty-one times, ^m2;e thirty, 
and pit three. It is pit in Xum^ 16 : 30-33 ; Job 17 : 16.' 

On page 1 12 he says, * The meaning of sheol which hes 
upon the tace of the sacred record (if Im.ay thus speak.) 
is indeed that of grave, sepulchre, under ivorld, or state of 
the dead, as I have given in the recension of the passages.' 

On pages 116-119, in giving a statement of what the 
Bible says of sheo^. he says, — 

1. ' Sheol is a place from which none ever return, e. g.. 
Job 7: 9; 2 Sam. 12: 23. 

2. It consumes or devours the bodies laid in it. Job 
24: 19 ; Ps. 49: 14. 

3. Sheol is a place of inaction and silence, e. g., Ps. 6-. 
6; 31: 17; 1 Sam. 2:9; Isa. 38: 18; Ecc. 9: 10. 

4. Sheol extends deep into the recesses of the earth ; 
yea, as deep as the heavens are high above it. Job 11 : 
8; Jonah 2:1: Amos 9:2; Deut. 32 : 22. 

5. Sheol is a place of utter and perpetual darkness and 
gloom. Job 10 : 21, 22, 

6. Here dwelt the ghosts or manes of deceased men.' 
[This statement he gets from heathenism, as the texts he 
quotes do not sustain it ; and besides he says, on page 121, 
' A deep region beneath, peopled with ghosts, is what we 
do n(.t believe in.' His texts are,] Ps. 88: 10: Prov. 2: 
18 ; 9 : 18 ; Isa. 14:9: 26 : 14, Xone prove his "views. 

7. ^ Sheol is sometimes personified, and represented as an 
insatiable monster, always devouring without remorse or 
distiactiom e. g., Isa. 5:14; Prov. 27 : 20 ; I : 12. 



KO ETEUNAL HELL. 



47 



8. Sheol, in common and popular language, is the w'orld 
or region to which both the rig-hteous and the wicked o'o 
after death, e. g-. Gen. 25 : 8 ; Xum. 20 : 26 ; Dent. 32 : 50.' 

On page 122 be says, ' Where i^ the specif c diSerence be- 
tween the future state of the right eons rnd w'xiiv.iiA. fidty 
set ibrth in the Hebrew ^.^riptures ? Where are the sepa 
rate abodes in t^lieol \ov each, parncujarly described ? i 
know not ; nor do I beiieve any one can inform me.' 

Page 113 he says, ' On the whole, it is to be regretted 
that our English translation has given occasion to the re- 
marks, that those who made it, have intended to impose on 
their readers, in any case, a sense different from that of the 
original Plebrew....! am inclined to beHeve, that in their 
day, the word hell had not acqiyred, so exclusively as at 
present, the m^'<xr{\x\<y ^iicorhlof futiu e misery? 

Page 114, he adds, ' It is prohable that the Hebrews did 
soiuetimes so understand slicoV ; and he quotes five texts 
to make out this ' prohalility,^ — viz., Job 21 : 13; Ps. 9: 
17 ; Prov. 9 : 18; 23 : 14. I ask the reader to look at these 
texts, and he will see no proof in them that sheol refers to 
a ' world of misery.' Ps. 9: 17, likely tells the final doom 
of the sinner, and if so, it is death. ; and the dead cannot 
occupy a world of woe. Ps. 37: 10, tells that 'his place 
shall not be.' 

H. ADES. — The Greek word hades is translated hell ten - 
times in the T., and once grave. It occurs ilatt. 11 : 
23; 16: 18; Luke JO: 15; 16:23: 1 Cor. 15:55; Acts 
2: 27, 31 ; Eev. 1 : 18 ; 6 : 8 ; 20 : 13, 14. 

I\Ir. Stuart says : 

I. ' Hades designates the under ivorhl^ subterranean re- 
gio72s simply, in opposition to the region above the earth'.' 
e. g. Matt.^ 11:23; Luke 10: 15. 'Thou Capernium, 
which art exalted to heaven, i. e., very highly (alluding 
probably to its site on a hill) shalt be brought down to the 
tmder icorld^ i. e., very low.' ' This is the natural and pri- 
mary explanation of the word hoAes here.' 

2. ' Hades signifies the region of the dead^ the domains of 
death, e. g. Matt, 16: 18; Eev. 1 : 18 ; 6 : 8 ; 20 : 13, 14. 

3. Hades means grave, sepulchre, depository of the dead, 
e. g. 1 Cor. 15 : 55 Acts 2 : 27-31. 

4. Hades has the sense of Tartarus in one passage, viz,, 



48 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



the region of woe or punishment. Luke 16 : 23, In hades 
he lifted up his eyes, being in torments.' 

Hades and sheol are used seventy-live times, and all are 
given up by Stuari: and others, as meaning a world of woe, 
except one. and that is in an intricate parable. All good 
critics have admitted, and common sense teaches, that 
parables can settle no dc^ctrine. This parable has no re- 
ference to a literal death or oTave, as has often been ad- 
mi ited by critics who hold to endless misery. It is similar 
to the parable of the prodigal son, \\'ith additional circum- 
stances, so I leave it as no proof that hades ever means a 
2yla,ce of torment. If it could be shown that this parable 
proved a place of woe in hades, it would be no proof of a 
place for endless woe, as Eev. 20 : 13, 14, tells us hades is 
to give up the dead, and be destroyed. 

TartapwUS. — The Greek word Tartarus^ used but once, 
and translated hell in 2 Pet. 2 : 4, is rehed on to prove 
there is a world of miser}'. Here we need no authority, 
for the Bible forbids this idea. ' God spared not the an- 
gels that sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus and de- 
hvered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto 
judgment,' An imprisonment for a limited time is here 
spoken of, while no place is named, as Tartarus here can 
only convey the idea of a prison, in the sense of John 3 : 
36 — ' He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life ; but 
the wrath of God abideth on him'; and in v. 18, ' He that 
believeth not is condemned already'; and in 2 Pet. 2: 9, 
' The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the 
day of judgment to be punished.' This sense is seen in 
the parallel text in Jude 6. 

If devils are confined to a local place, it is on earth — 
See Job 1 : 7; 1 Pet. v. 8 ; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2: 2—' He 
goeth to and fro.' ' is god of this world.' ' rules in the chil- 
dren of disobedience' ; so we are all in the same hell the 
devil is. Heb. 2 : 14, tells us he is to be ' destroyed,' and 
so his prison will end at the judgment. But further, de- 
vils are not punished yet, as they have not been judged, 
and are as criminals apprehended, and w^aiting for judg- 
ment and punishment. They said to Christ, ' Hast thou 
come to torment us before the time?' and again, • Hast 
thou come' to destroy us ?' 

GEHEN.^Ak — But the Gre^6k word GehenTw^ twelve times 



NO ETERNAL HELL. 



49 



translated ' hell' in the N. T., is the main term used to 

fTove a world of torment, or endless hell in a future state, 
t occurs in Matt. 5 : 22/29, 30 ; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 
33 ; Mark 9 : 43, 45, 47 ; Luke 12:5; James 3 : 6. 

Stuart says, ' The word Gehenna, 4s derived from the 
words Gi IIi?inom, the valley of Hinnom.' He adds, ' It 
was a word used by the ancient Hebrews, and they are the' 
only competent witnesses of its meaning.' The 0. T., 
then, must be examined for this ; for Dr. George Campbell 
says, ' Our Lord, we find from the evangelists, spoke to 
his countrymen in the dialect of their own Scriptures, and 
used those names to which the reading of the law and the 
prophets had famiharized them.' Not observing this fact 
has been the great cause of the woful mistake about future 
punishment. I affirm, then, that HiJiJiom^ [Gehenna) \^ 
never used in the 0. T. to mean a place of infernal punish- 
ment, or world of woe. It is used first, as the name of a 
literal place : and secondly, as a symbol of destruction, 
slaughter, death. So the Saviour used it As this is 
among the most important points in examining the doctrine 
of future punishment, it demands full investigation, and I 
will therefore refer to all the places where Hinnom and To- 
phet (meaning the same as Gehenna) are used in the Old 
Testament. 

* See Joshua 15:8; 18:16; 2 Kings 23:10; Neh. 11: 
30; 2 Chron. 28 : 3 ; 38 : 6; Jer. 7: 31, 32; 19: 2-6, 11- 
14; 32: 35; Isa. 30 : 33. 

In these texts we find Gehenna used to symbolize 
slaughter and death, in Jer. 7: 32; 19: 6-11; Isa. 30: 
33: also, to denote utter destruction, in Jer, 19: 11, 12; 
Isa. 30 : 33. In Jer. 19 : 13, it symbolizes a ^oWuiedi place, 

Jer. 7 : 32, reads, " Tbepefore, behold the days come, 
saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor 
the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter ; 
for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place :" see the 
same in ch. 19 : 6. Jer. 19 : 11-12, " I will break this peo- 
ple, and this city (Jerusalem,) as one breaketh a potter's 
vessel, that cannot be made whole again, and they shall 
bury them in Tophet till there be no place else to bury..... 
and even make this city as Tophet.'' Here, as in every 
place in the 0. T,, where it is used figuratively, it symbo- 
lizes d^ath and utt&r destrmtion. Scott^s Commentary 



50 



DEATH XGT LIFE. 



says, It became a place of execution of criminals for the 
Jews/' The fact is plain that " God has surnamed the 
place, tJie valley of slaughter^ and to afSrm that the wicked 
are to be kept alive there forever, is to charge him with 
naming: it inappropriately." — Bible vs. Tradition, p. 219. 

Christ evidently used Gehenna figuratively, in the same 
sense the prophets did — there is no proof to contradict this, 
but much to sustain it. Stuart, Barnes, and otheis, go to 
the heathen and to the superstitious Eabbinical writers, 
and not to the Bible, to prove he meant a world of misery 
by Gehenna and Hades ; and they do the same as to sheoL 
Out of much and full proof of this, I will quote a little from 
Stuart's work, named above. 

Page 146 : ' That tba word Gehenna was common among 
the Jews, is evident from its frequency in the oldest Eab- 
binical writings. It was employed by them, as all confess, 
in order to designate hcV^ the infernal region, the vorlcl of 
Indeed, it seems quite probable, as Gesenius suggests^ 
that Gehenna came to be ueed as a designation of the in- 
fernal regions, because the Hebrews supposed that demons 
dwelt in this vnilty.' He elsewhere shows tliat the Jevrs 
got their ideas fro.ii the heathen, and not from their Scrip- 
tures, 

I admit that Christ used Gehenna to symbolize 
mmt at the judgment ; but he used it as the prophets dio; 
%viuh the double meaning of punishment and the kind of 
punishment, namely, death. When he said to the Jews, 
^ How can ye escape the condemnation (punishment) of Ge- 
henna' [A'c//] ^ he meant the same as if he had said, How- 
can ye escape the cross ? that is, a disgraceful and misera- 
ble death ; or the same as if we should say. How can that 
m.urderer escape the punishment of the gallows or the 
stake? Gehenna was a polluted place^ as we see by 2 
Kings 23 : 10, and so was the cross ; ' Cursed is every one 
that hangeth on a tree'; and it is just as absurd to say, 
Christ meant the sinner would go to a world of woe and 
live for ever there, by saying he would ' be cast into Ge- 
henna,' as it would be for us to say, the nmrderer will live 
for ever in misery, because he is going to the gallows or 
the stake. 

On examining all the texts in the Old and Xew^ Testa- 
ments, I am compelled to fully believe that Gehenna ought 



NO ETERNAL HELL. 



51 



never to be translated, any more than Babylon, Sodom, 
Egypt and Jerusalem. They are all names of literal 
P'uces^ and all used figuratively in both Testaments. No 
one is misled by these other names not beinu" translated, 
neither would they be by this beinu' untranslated. The 
Seventy did not translate it from the Hebrew to the Greek. 

I cannot think of any other literal place thus translated 
in the Bible. The precious book is darkened and cor- 
rupted by its translation. I am credibly informed that in 
versions in other languages it is seldom translated. 

Surely, the word hell is a wTong word to translate it im 
to. Dr. Geo. Campbell says, ^ At first, hell denoted only 
what was secret or concealed.' Parkhurst says, ^ Our 
English, or rather Saxon^ word ?Lell^ in its original signifi- 
cation, exactly answers to the Greek w^ord hades^ and de- 
notes a concealed^ or unseen place ; and this sense of the 
word is still retained in the eastern, and especially in the 
western counties of England ; to hele over a thing is to 
cover it.' Mr. Sabine says, ' It appears to me that in the 
thne of this translation, hell, pit, and grave, were synony- 
mous.' 

Certainly this is not the sense of Gehenna in a single 
place in the Bible; though it answers to the sense of sheol 
and hades. The present conventional and perverted mean- 
ing of the word hell^ is about as far from the sense of Ge- 
henna as was its original meaning. I kno^v it will be said, 
Gehenna sym.bolizes a place of punishment, where there 
will be * weeping and wailing' ; yes, and so do the cross 
and the stake cause weeping. 

All I have said of Gehenna, is confirmed by the conces- 
sions of Rev. A. Barnes, in his notes on ilatt, v. 22, where 
it first occurs as used by Christ — ' Hell fire'' ; the origi- 
nal of this is the ' Gehenna o{fire? It was made the place 
where to throw all the dead carcasses and filth of the city, 
and was not unfrequently the place of executions. It be- 
came, therefore, extremely offensive, and to preserve the 
pestilential air in any measure pure, it was necessary to 
keep fires continually burning there. It was the image 
which our Saviour often employed to denote the future 
punishment of the wicked.. ..But he who shall load his bro- 
ther with odious appellations and abusive language, shall 
incur the severest degree of pimishmentj represented by 



62 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



being burnt alive in the horrid and awful valley of Hin- 
nom. Among the Jews there w^ere three degrees of con- 
demnation, — that by the judgment, the council, and the 
fire of Hinnom.''^ 

From this description, Gehenna could symbohze nothing 
but a miserable and disgraceful loss of life. A Jew could 
understand Christ in no other sense, as they knew he un- 
derstood the prophets, and was constantly calling their at- 
tention to them. It is unjustifiable to say Christ used 
Gehenna in a different sense from what the prophets did, 
without a good warrant for doing so. 

Paul preached thirty years, and wrote fourteen epistles, 
and is it not passing strange that he never intimated a hell, 
if he knew there was one ? He was explaining what Christ 
meant by being ' cast into the Gehenna of fire"^ in Heb. 10 : 
26, 27. If w^e sin w^illfully... there remaineth no more sacri- 
fice for sins, but ' a certain fearful looking for of judgment 
and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." 
And Heb. 6: 8, (' But that wiiich beareth thorns and briers 
is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing ; whose end is to be 
burned.'^) And in Eom. 9: 22. where he says the wicked 
are ' vessels of wrath fitted to destruction^'' — not to an end- 
less hell, as we now hear in every sermon. 

If the common theory of a local hell be correct, there- 
must be three distinct hells taught in the Bible ; tw^o now 
in existence, and one to be built in future. (1.) Hades, for 
souls between death and the judgment. (2.) Tartarus, 
(the atmosphere) for the present home of devils. And (3.) 
Gehenna, to be provided somewhere, at the judgment. 

But we learn from God's word, that hades, the first hell, 
is to be destroyed. Eev. 20 : 14. The devil's hell must 
be ended when he is destroyed ; or rather, when the new 
heavens and new earth are made," the " air" will be so puri- 
fied, that he will no longer be ^'-prince of it." 

And as to Gehenna, hell, it only symbolizes punish- 
ment to be inflicted at the judgment, which is death ; but 
if W'C call it a local place, it is to be a slaughter-yard — the 
valley of slaughter shall it be called," Jer. 7 : 32 ; 19 : 6 ; 
and when Christ says, " bring hither mine enemies, and 
%lay them before me" ; and ^' the last enemy is destroyed^'' ; 
who can divine what will become of this third and last 
hell ? or what need there will be of its existence ? 



NO ETERNAL HELL. 



53 



The common sense answer to such a question, in worldly 
matters, would be — when there is no more stock to butcher, 
slaughter -houses will he discontinued. 

I have quoted but a small part of the authority T have 
collected, both from the Bible and writers to prove my as- 
sertion. No Eter}ial Hell. This is not saying there w^ill 
be no future punishment. No, — the sinner will see at the 
judgment if not before, that to be ' burned up with un- 
quenchable fire' in Gehenna — to goto SheoU ' the place of 
the dead' for ever, is a sad punishment, and one that will 
cause • weeping and gnashing of teeth,' till the 'blackness 
of darkness for ever ends his being and his woe. 

TThen I hadpored over seventy-seven pages of Stuart, in 
which he labors to make these four terms mean what hell now 
means ; and witnessed his reliance on heathen and Rabinic 
writers, — his prohahilities and contradictions. I unavoida- 
bly thought of the old proverb, ' a mountain travailed and 
brought forth a mouse.' But he had immortal and pollu- 
ted souls on hand, and he must find a place for them some- 
where. This assumed doctrine of immortality for the 
wicked, has produced sophistry enough to make any one 
ashamed of poor erring human nature, and do what it has 
done — fill Christendom with sceptics, and the world v^uth 
gloom. With hell^ and hell-fire^ thus wrongfully put in 
fifty-three texts, no wonder the common people think the 
Bible is full of endless misery. 

The w^hole learned Christian ministry have sinned in per- 
mitting nnd aiding in the change of the English word hell 
from its original meaning ; and they ' handle the word of 
God deceitfully' when they use it in its present perverted 
sense. T.et them not censure me for ' rebuking sharply' ; 
for the remembrance that 1 have been kept in darkness 
and gloom for forty years ; and the sad fact that millions 
of God's dear people, whom I love and wish to comfort, 
are still kept in the same darkness and gloom, by their 
covering up the truth in this matter, arouses the deep emo- 
tions of my soul, and I cannot believe I sin, by giving them 
vent. 

And besides, the time has come for the fifty or more 
ministers, in the United States, who have been hurled from 
the churches, and branded with heresy, for preaching the 
Bible instead of the creeds^ to speak out with boldness, and 



I 

i 



54 



]>EATH NOT LIFE. 



cany bad: the ponderous load heresy to the doors where 
it belongs. War has been declared against us, and I am 
not content with chifensive warfare, but judge it best to 
drive the battle into the enemies' camp, knowing they can- 
not clefend it, as they have not " the sword of the spirit," 
which is the word of God,— that mighty weapon is in our 
camp, and we should use it, and let our deceived foes feel its 
poicer^ to pull down strong holds, and cast down imagi- 
nations.*- 2 Cor. 10:4. 

I w ish to act in the same spirit of love and boldness that 
Paul did, when he " withstood Peter to his face, and said 
he was to be blamed for dissembhng.'' Gal. 2 : 11-13. 

True, I have sinned myself; for the English student of 
the Bible, hy a long research can find it teaches 7io endless 
hell^ but simply a second death for the poor sinner. Thanks 
be to God that thousands are thus learning at the present 
time. But the joy of this fact, is chilled by hearing from 
the learned ministry the cry, — ^pernicious dUjetrin^! — in- 
fidelity^ — illiterate souls, — -cast them out of the Synago- 
gue' i I Surely, mountain piles of * hay, wood, stubbie,' 
will have to be ' burned up' at the judgment, or many, 
whom we hope will have ' eternal Hie,' will be cast into Ge- 
henna. 

The Lord in mercy save the church from a far worse 
than Papal-pura'atorv delusion. 
Buffalo, N. i:, Nov. 9, 1552. 

THE CATHOLICS MORE HONEST IX THEIR TRANSLATION THAN 
THE PROTESTANTS. 

I here throw in an interesting fact from the Catholic 
Bible, in relation to the word /^f//. which I have just dis- 
covered. As far as I have examined, they translate sheol 
and liades honestly, in giving to the English word hell its 
original and proper meaning, viz., secret, covered, &c., or, 
the state of the dead, without making any distinction be- 
tween the saint and sinner. Their notes of course are 
useless, and I only add them as a curiosity. 

The Bouay Bible, which takes its name from its being 
first pubhshed at Bouay in 1609, and which is the present 
Bible of the English Catholics, has the following transla- 
tion, and short comments. 



THE Catholic bible. 



55 



GeB. 37: 35, I (Jacob) will go down to my son into 
hell (sheol) mourning,'' Comment- — " Into Itdl^ — that is, 
into limho^ the place v^'here the souls of the just were re- 
ceived before the death of our Redeemer. For allowing 
that the word hell sometimes is taken for the ^ravc. it can- 
not be so taken in thi:^ place; since Jacob did not believe 
his son to be in the ^m^-e, (whom he supposed to be de- 
voured by a wild beast) and therefore could not mean to 
go down to him thither : but certainly meant the place of 
rest, where he believed his soul to be/' So hell means hea- 
ven ! Gen. 42 : 38. You will brina- down my (Jacob's) 
gray hairs with sorrow to kell^^] (sheol). Xole — To Jiell 
— that is, to that place where the souls ther: remained, as 
abovc^ chap, 37 : 

1 Samj. 2 : 6, " The Lord bringetli down to hell (?heol) 
and bringeth back again.'' 1 Kings 1 1 : 6-9, Bring down 
Joab with blood to A^j//,"" — SvO of Shemei. J(;b 14 : 13, 
That thou mayest protect me in hell (sheol) and hide me 
till thy wrath pass/" Note — ' Proiect me m helL that is, 
in the state of the dead: and in the place vvhere the souls 
are kept waiting for their Eedeemer.' 

17: 13, It'I wait hell (sheol) is my house, and I have 
made my bed in darkness.^' 

Ecc. 9 : 10, For neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, 
nor knowledge, shall be in Itcll (>he(>l) liitlier thou art 
hastening.'" Though this text tells that the dead i.VQ un* 
conscious and thus cuts oil* their belief yet they honestly 
translate shiol by hell to be uniform. See Job 21 : 13 ; 
Ps. 5:6; Prov, 1 : 12; Songs 8:6; Isa. 3S : 10, 13, where 
the term hell is put instead of grave as in our Bibles.— 
Hose. 13: 14, they transhite curiously. 0 de:it;i, I will 
be thy death, 0 iLell^ I will be thy uite:' But bitu" is 
an old Saxon expression for destruction. Tifis text as 
quoted in 1 Cor. 15 : 55, they translate— - 0 dea-h, where 
is th}^ victory ? 0 death, wh^vQ is thy sting 

Acts 2 : 24, Having loosed the sorrows oi heW {hades) 
instead of ^/.;«'//, as ui out* Bibles. 

Tims I fad wiiere she^jl meaut ihe state of death, they 
have been uniform and. pat it Iicl.l^ and where it meant 
grave as keve)\ they put it grave and sepulehre, whereas 
our translators change to suit their doctrine of a local 
helL 



56 



DEATH NOT LIFE, 



ERRORS IN TRANSLATION. 

Here we have full proof that the SaxoE word hell has 
been changed from its original meaning; ^nd my charge 
of ^ corruption in changing it, and that the learned sin in 
using it in its present perverted sense,' is justifiable. I 
defy them to evade the proof and argument, or to justify 
their practice. 

Thus, as I have said, the unlearned in Greek and He- 
brew may, by research, learn that the Bible teaches no lo- 
cal eternal hell. 

I will add here, that the Bible is perverted by the learn- 
ed in applying the term bottomless pit^- to a place of woe. 
They know ''the Greek word abussus^ translated bottom- 
less pit,'' is only used metaphorically in Eev., and only 
means immense, profound, a wilderness, &c. It is used 
Jiom. 10 : 7, ''"Who shall descend into the deep, abiissus? 
(that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.'') Here 
it evidently means the grave; for who beheves Christ was 
in a place of woe?" 8ee '^ Bible vs. Tradition." Eev. 9 : 
1-5, shows its meaning; as all agree the Mahomadan de- 
lusion is meant. 

I have just further discovered that the Dauay Bible is 
lionest and exposes the corruption of our translation in the 
term " give up the ghost." It is thus — Gen. 25 : 8, " And 
decaying he died" ; ^49 : 33, " and died." Job 10 : ]8, 'L\nd 
that I had been consumed.'" ^-Giving up the ghost" in 
the sense now attached to it, is very diflFerent from ^' decay 
ing, and being consumed, and dying" ; and yet the learned 
know that the latter is the sense of the Hebrew and Greek 
as used in the Bible ; and to get the former sense they go 
TO the heathen and ignorant Jewish writer-s, who even held 
to the pre-existence and transmigration of souls. 

" The word ghost is a Saxon word, derived from gust of 
wind, and originally meant merely giving up the wind, or 
" breath of lives."— Bible vs. Tradition. 

So we see our teachers have changed the meaning of 
this word, just as they have of hell. Will thelaity patient^ 
ly continue to be thus deceived, or aw^ake and demand of 
instructors the whole truth ? They must do so, or " follow 
tlie mu! titiide to do evil" ; for as I have said, learned minis^ 



ERRORS IN TRANSLATION. 



57 



ters seem bent on having no reform, or on not firing any 
new light to the people on this great subject. Tiiey seem 
to think that an eternal hell and endless torment must be 
preached, or religion will go to wreck. Preach the truths 
and Christ will take care of his own cause. 

When I say the translators designedly covered up the 
truth, I do not mean that they did so in relation to all doc- 
trines and duties, but only where they wished to sustain 
a favorite doctrine, and a laithful and uniform translation 
of the original would seem to destroy it. They had re- 
tained the pagan and papal doctrines of immortahty — that 
the dead are alive, and that there is a hell, or local place 
of torment ; and on these points it can be demonstrated 
that they used equivocation, and the learned now refuse to 
expose it. 

See a proof Hades occurs eleven times in the N. T., 
and they render it hell ten times, but when they come to 
1 Cor. 15 : 55, lest their idea of hell should appear false, 
they translate it grave. 0 grave, where is thy victory?" 
They evidently start back I — • If v;e are uniformi, and trans- 
late this hell^ the unlearned will see that our place for tor- 
ment is to have no vietori/' — no inhabitants or deathless 
spirits after the judgrnent ! — so we must put it grave here 1' 

Acts 2: 27. " Tliou wilt not leave my soid in helL'' 
(hades), if rendered grave, the people would see his soul 
did not go off to paradise with the thief, and so their doc- 
trine of 2"oing to lieaven when we die, would be disturbed 
— hence they put it he//, concluding the people (as proves 
to be the fact.) would wonder and wonder over it, as a 
mystery and leave it there ! 

'''Re\\20 \ 13. Death and hell {hades) deHvered up the 
dead which were in them.'' Here a good purpose could be 
answered by putting it he// instead of grave, as the people 
would think (as is the fact) that the wicked came from a 
world of torment to be judged. 

Look at the thirty-one texts where sheol is translated 
hell, and it is plain they rendered it he/l wherever the sense 
did not compel them to put it giave ov pit. 

AVe hear much about the saintedVmg James who order- 
ed our translation ; but do divines tell that his reign was 
a corrupt one — that he restrained the translators as to cer- 
tain wordsj &c., and that he di^d a CatholiG ? Yet history 
lells th«*e atartliiig 



58 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



We should be traitors to the cause of religion if we did 
not condemn what is wrong in our translation, and seek to 
have it corrected ; and the outcry that we are destroyino- 
confidence in the Bible, is fallacious. The course the mass 
of ministers are now takjng in opposing a new translation, 
is a direct way to do it. 

The ostrich,^ when pursued, hides its head in the sand or 
a bush, to avoid being discovered. Opposers to a correc- 
tion of king James' translation exhibit a similar folly. — 
Learned Unitarians, Universalists, and Deists, are exposing 
these errors, and by proving that the orthodox use eva- 
sion, much injury is done. The learned ministry are now, 
in a special manner, practicing evasion to oppose^hose who 
teach the destruction of the wicked. 

Give us the mind of the Sjnrit^ if it tears into atoms 
every iiuman creed in Christendom, should be our motto. 

PRES. EDWARDS ON HELL AND HEAVEN. 

In vol. 4. p. 287 and on, he says, "The woes of sinners in hell 
will not be a cause of grief to saints in heaven, but of rejoicing. 
This rejoicing will be the fruit of an amiable disposition^ and a 
perfect holiness and conformity to Christ. At the judgment you 

may be ready to fly to some godly friend, but you will see them 
unconcerned for jou^ with joy ascending to meet their Lord, and 
not the less joyful for the hoi ror in which they see you. When 
they hear you groan and gnash your teeth, these things will not 
move them at all to pity you. After your godly parents shall 
have seen you lie in hell millions of ages, in torment day and night, 
they will not begin to pity you then; they will praise God that 
his justice appears in the eternity of your misery. The torments 
in hell will be immensely greater than being in a glowing oven, a 
brick-kiln, or a fiery furnace." 

This is a specimen of five sermons on this subject; and, with 
such teaching, no wonder Universal ism has spread in the Eastern 
States. Prof. Finny slanders God far worse, by saying, that " the 
torment will eternally increase.^^ Verily, God is "forbearing and 
forgiving," or he would (not eternally torture, but) annihilate, for 
such blasphemy. Where is the Bible for such stuff? 

Compare such statements with Bible language — Our God is 
full of compassion — of pity — will not hold his anger forever — his 
mercy endureth forever," &c. All texts, as we shall prove, which 
tell of vengeance, and woe," show them to be momentary — so, 

our God will not hold his anger forever." Amen. 



CHAPTER IV. 



& FURTHER EXAMINATION OF PASSAGES SUPPOSED TO TEACH THE DOCTRINE 
OF ENDLESS MISERY 

I. CLASSES OF PASSAGES EXAMINED. 

In attempting the proof of endless woe, the following- 
classes of -texts must be left out, when this doctrine is con- 
trasted with the doctrine of destrvction, 

1. In controversies with TTniversalists, by assumiyig in- 
stead of proviyig the wicked immortal, about all the 200 
texts previously named for destruction, have been dragged 
in to prove endless woe. 

2. Let it be well observed too, that besides these 200 
texts, many others, which only tell of punishment and wot- 
at the judgment, or coming of Christ, without defining any 
time of continuance or end, are also quoted by the ortho 
dox as good proof of their theory. Xote— It is one thini- 
to prove future punishmiCnt, or woe, and another and vei; 
different thing to prove it is to be endless. The following 
are a specimen of such texts. Be cast into outer darl: 
ness, there shall be weeping; and gnashing of teeth."' '^'E- 
more tolerable for Sodom, in the day of judgment." ^'Sh::' 
receive the greater condemnation.'' "He that believe:' 
not, shall be condemmed," (as all agree, damned should b • 
rendered) — '^aot be forgiven in this world nor that i. 



60 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



come.'' If a murderer be not forgiven he dies. " Have 
judgment without mercy." " Good if he had not been 
born/' — ''be ill with the wicked," — '' indignation and wrath, 
tribulation and anguish," &c. When I)r, Webster was 
condemned to die, the lorath of the State was manifested, 
and " tribulation and anguisW was experienced ; but it 
was not endless, so not one of these texts indicate endless 
woe. They have only been used on the supposition that 
the wicked were immortal. 

Some thirty such passages exist, a part of which, but 
not all, refer to the final doom of the sinner, and which, if 
it be consistent to quote against Universalists, w^ho hold 
the immortality of all men, cannot be brought against us, 
w ho hold there must be more or less misery in the second 
death ; and even enough to '' render to all as their works 
may be," if that be the import of such texts. 

Lest any should think I judge wrong as to these neuter 
texts, I will refer to all I can find in the N. T., where our 
main light is found. Matt. 3 : 7 ; 8 : 1 1, 12 ; 12 : 32 ; 13 : 
47-50; 22: 12, 13; 24: 51; 23:14; 25:30; Mark 6 : 
11; 12 : 40 ; (" severer punishment," — Geo. Campbell,) 16 : 
16; Luke 10 : 12-14; 12:46,47; 13:9; 25 : 28 ; 23 : 
47; John 5: 29; 8:21; Eorn. 2:9; 2 Thess. 2:12; 2 
Pet 2:1; Rom. 3:8; 13:2; 1 Tim. 5:12; Eev. 22 : 
11, " Let him be filthy still." Peter says, the}^ " shall ut- 
Urly ijerisli in their own corruption^ Truly the Bible ex- 
pounds itself 

Prov. 14 : 32, The wicked is driven away in his wick- 
edness : but the righteous hath hope in his death." J ames 
2 : 1 3, He shall have judgment without mercy," &e. The 
murderer is driven aAvay, and has judgment withour mer- 
cy." Isa. 50 : 11, Ye shall lay down in sorrow." Jeru- 
salem, when doomed to destruction, and Webster, the 
murderer, layed not dow^n in peace, but in sorrow."— 
Thus all this class of texts can be shown to be consistent 
with destruction. 

3. All the thirty-one texts with sheol (hell) in them must 
be left out. We have seen by the concessions of Stuart, 
Barnes, and others, that if any of these texts tell the final 
doom of sinners, they fully prove destiuction; as sheol 
means the grave, or state of death—^^ the dead know not 
anything," and so cannot suftVr. 



THE KICH MAN AND LAZAUUS. 



61 



4. The ten passages with hades (hell) in, must be silent as 
witnesses, or testify for destruction. Six of them, all agree, 
mean only the grave, viz.. Acts 2 : 27, 31 : Eev. 1 : 18 ; 6 : 
8; 20: 13, 14. One other, Matt. Id: 18,' evidently means 
the grave, " The gates of hades (the grave, and not hell,) 
shall not prevail against the church,'' as the resurrection 
will deliver the saints from it. Two others, " thou Caper- 
nium....shalt be brought down to Jiades (hell)." Matt. 11 : 
23, and Luke 10 : 15, Stuart says, do not refer to a future 
state ; and Barnes in his notes says, " This does not mean 
that all the people should go to hell, but that the city, 
which had flourished, should lose its prosperity. The word 
hell is used here, not to denote a place of punishment in 
the future world, but a state of desolation and destruction 
as a city.'' As ministers yet quote these texts to support 
their theory, they betray a lack of criticism or of sincerity. 

But as hades (hell) is once figuratively used in the para- 
ble of the rich man as being a place of woe, divines will 
have it, that this must change its meaning and make it con- 
tradict the plain import of the other seventy-four times 
where it, and its equivalent, sheol occur. Hades is 
also found sixty times in the Septuagint, and never there 
indicates a place of misery. 

I am happy to learn, how^ever, that they begin to own, 
as I have said, that hades in this text is no proof of woe 
beyond the judgment. As this is the great point I am at, 
and not the intermediate state, I will only give briefly its 
meaning as given by the best expounders. 

The rich man" denoted the Jewish nation, or the priest- 
hood, or both combined — the priests, by the law, having 
to be clothed in purple and fine hnen" ; Ex. 33 : 1, 2. — 
His death^'' symbolized the death (destruction) of their 
political and ecclesiastical state — ^' torment in the flames," 
(the flames meaning God's judgments) denoted or predic- 
ted the misery they w^ouTd endure, as a nation. It is a fact 
that they have been in " torment-'' by persecutions ever 
since they died as a nation. Their looking to Abraham for 
rehef, may denote their relying on the law instead of Christ, 
or grace through him. They have been " huriedj'' as to 
nationahty, and a priesthood. 

The poor man," as the prodigal son, symbohzed the 
Gentiles and publicans, who were looked on as dogs" by 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



the Jews, and lay, or could only conrie to the ^' gate''* o[ the 
temple for crumbs" of light. " Abraham's bosom" meant 
the gospel churchy and when the Gentiles ^^died" or changed 
their former sickly state, they were not ^' buried" as were 
the Jews, but carried by angels" (messengers) into the 
gospel church. Peter and Paul were special " angels" to 
thus transport them. " Publicans and harlots go into the 
kingdom of God before you," Matt, 21 : 31. The branches 
being broken off," &c., Rom. 11 : 17-21, conve^^s the same 
ideas as this parable ; and I apprehend Christ meant the 
same in Matt. 8:11, 12, "Abraham. Isaac, and Jacob," 
denoting the " election," Rom. 11 7, with whom the Gen- 
tiles were to " sit down" in gospel privileges. 

Matt. 22: 1-13, the parable of the "marriage-feast," 
doubtless meant the same ; the one " without a wedding 
garment" denoting a false Gentile church, or the papacy, 
which we learn from Rev., is yet to " weep and wail" un- 
der the " seven viols of wrath," but it is to be on the earth. 
Compare Matt. 21 : 33-44, with Matt. 22 : 1-13, and we 
see they mean what I have said the parable of Dives means. 

The casting away of the Jews, and the woes coming oa 
them, with the call of the Gentiles, had been often foretold 
by prophets, and was very prominent in Christ's figurative 
teaching ; bat we have so long applied this teaching to a 
future state, in fighting Universalists, and to drive men to 
Christ and heaven by terror^ that it is hard seeing our mis- 
takes, or rather the orthodox will not search to discover 
them, while the Universalists have, and despise their igno- 
rance. 

Another part of the parable is to illustrate the unbelief 
of the Jews. Dry bones and calling out of graves, Ezk. 
37 : 1-13, are similar figures. Christ inspired Ezekiel, and 
had a right to use the same symbolic teaching himself 

By the principle adopted to explain this parable of the 
rich man, we might prove that trees choose a king, and 
eagles plant cedar trees. See Judges 9: 7-15; Ezk. 17 : 
2-1 0. No one had taken a lamb but David, and he not a 
lamb, but a womon. 2 Sam. 12: 3. 

A. Barnes admits parables are not histories of facts, and 
then treats this one as being such. McKnight and Whit- 
by, say this parable was in the Calde or Babylonian Tar* 
gums, yet some divines aow betray their weakness or dis- 



THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 



63 



Seinbling, by saying it is not a parable. Trench on the 
parables says, " They may not be made the first sources of 
doctrine. When a doctrine is settled by plain texts, they 
may illustrate it. But controversalists, to sustain some 
weak position, often forget this rule ; and looking round 
for arguments to sustain their weak position, invent for 
themselves supports in these." This is just what most are 
now doing. Not a text in the Bible says the wicked dead 
are in misery in hades, or anywhere else, nor that they are 
conscious till the resurrection, unless this parable tells it. 

Jude 7, (also figurative) is often perverted and forced in 
to prove it. I defy the world to give a reason why so aw- 
ful a doctrine, if true, has been thus obscurely revealed by 
the Spirit. No plain text intimating the misery of the 
wicked till the waihng of the second death,'' is the rea- 
son why ministers are now making ape?'Ject; hobby of this 
parable. But see the sophistry used : in one breath they 
say it is a hteral history of facts, and in the next, say, 
literal ^'-fiames''' are not meant, but a gnawing conscience ! 
Who authorized them to turn Bible facts (if this is one) 
into fiction ? Again, they say the lost are Hke devils, full 
of hate and revenge ; but Dives they make a praying and 
benevolent soul, wishing his five brethren to be saved. 

Who could wish for such a heaven as they say Lazarus 
and Abraham have, hearing useless pra3^ers and seeing 
friends in flames eternally ? No wonder but few are aroused 
to seek such a heaven ; and but few^ reverence and love a 
Judge, who himself made and then doomed his helpless 
creatures to such a fate as divines say Dives is now shar- 
ing 1 The remark is often made, and is true, that parables 
must not be made to go on all-fours^ but the very same 
men forget this rule when they come to this one ; and ask 
who the five brethren were, &c,; &c. The reason is ob- 
vious — they have a tJteory to prop up, and not a single 
plain text with w-hich to support it. 

With the explanation I have suggested, how natural is 
this similitude — the Jews in their life-time" (dispensation) 
had their " good things" — the means of salvation — now, as 
Christ told them, " the things that belorg to their peace, 
are hid from their eyes." They are.^ " tormented" spiri- 
tually and temporally — "wrath has come on themto*tho 
uttermost,"—" God is " rendering his anger with fury, and 



64 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



his rebukes with flames of fire^'^ Isa. 66 : U . The flaming 
flame is not quenched." Ezk. 20: 47. On the other hand, 
the Gentiles had evil things" — gloomy paganism, till the 
Jews were " rejected," but now are comforted" with the 
gospel — " the sohtary places are made glad." The llth 
of Romans tells plainly what the impassable guip^ syra- 
bohzed. " Bhndness is on them till the fullness of the Gen- 
tiles be come in." We cannot reach them with light to 

cool their tongue," for ''their eyes are closed." Nor 
have the nations " passed the gulf," for they have persecu- 
ted and scattered them, as God had said. The " gulf" is 
only said to be " fixed" eternally by erring men, and not 
by the Bible ; and we hope the time is near '' when the 
vail will be taken away" — '' the fullness of the Gentiles 
come," and the flames" of God's wrath will cease to burn 
against his anciently beloved people, and all his creatures. 
One thing is certain, " hades''^ must ere long, with '' the 
last enemv, be destroyed^^' and where will be this frightful 
"gulf" then? Ecc. 9: 5-10, tells us the hterally dead 
"know not anything," and " there is no knowledge in the 
grave," [sheol,] and so no praying to Abraham, and no 
suflfering there. 

In Rom. 7 : 9, Paul says, " Sin revived and I died,^^ that 
is, he died to all hope or dependence on the laiv for justifi- 
cation. So in this parable, the Gentiles died to all hope 
or dependence on idolatrous worship — '' ye turned to God 
from idols." Die and dead are sometimes thus used 
figuratively where the sense shows that literal death is not 
meant; and to say " died^"^ in this parable must be Hteral, 
is absurd, as the whole tenor of the Bible forbids it. 

It should be noticed that this parable immediately fol- 
lows that of the prodigal son, Luke 15; and all commen- 
tators agree that referred to the Jews and Gentiles on 
earth. In that the fate of the elder son is not told, and 
the main design of this seems to be, to tell that fate. 

Turn to Rev. 11 : 7-12, and we see that to be "killed, 
lie dead, to arise and ascend to heaven," is a similar sym- 
bolic representation. But Bible expounders act as if their 
eyes were " closed," as predicted of unbelieving Israel, or 
as the horse, seeing a hole in the bridge, he can see nothing 
else and so runs into the ditch. 

Thus we &e« that not one of the ten te:cts with hudu 



GEHENNA EXPLAINED. 



G5 



(bell) in them, can be admitted as sane witnesses in our 
issue. 

5. Again— the number of texts used to sustain the com- 
mon theory must be reduced by the twelve in which Ge- 
henna (hell) is found. I have quoted them above, and will 
add but httle except refer to some more texts and authori- 
ties. There could be no proof that the wicked will live and 
suffer for ever in Gehenna, figuratively used by Christ to 
ieW punishment (not ^ place ^ at the final judgment, were 
it not inferredi from the fact, that to three of them (proper- 
ly but one and repeated) is added the terms, "the worm 
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." But these terms, 
as I have shown, make it more certain that all cast into 
the of Geheniia'^ will be r:(9/25w??z€c/, unless Christ meant 
by them just the reverse of w^hat the prophets did when 
they used them figuratively. 

And who will dare to say He did ? Pause, dear reader, 
and forbear to charge the friend of sinners with deception ! 

The term, the worm dieth not," is used but once in the 
0. T., Isa. 66 : 24, and denotes the utter consumption of 
the thing on which it preys. In Isa. and Mark 9, it is 
added to fire to increase the certainty of clestriiction / as 
carcasses cast in Gehenna, if not burned, would be eaten 
up of worms. 

In Jer. 4 : 4, God says, " Lest my fury come forth like 
fire^ and burn that none can quench it." This with many 
like texts demonstrates the fact, that hj fire in Mark 9, is 
meant God's fury or vengeance, and if that is not quenched, 
the sinner must be consumed, " for our God is a consum- 
ing fire." But I shall more fully illustrate this thought in 
another place, 

Geo. Campbell translates Mark 9 : 43-^45, " Than having 
twohandsto go into hell,into the unquenchable fire," instead 
of, into the fire that never shall be quenched," as it is in 
our Bibles, This makes these two expressions more plain^ 
and makes them agree with Matt. 3 : 12, where the same 
doom of the sinner is told ; and here it is, " shall hum up 
the chaff with unquenchable fire," 

Bishop Whately, on the expressions, " the worm dieth 
not, and the fire is not quenched," says, the expressions 
are taken from Isa. 66 : 24, and evidently describe the kind 
of doom inflicted by eastern nations ^ the vilest offenders^ 



66 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



who were not onh- slain, but their bodies depri/ed of the 
rights of burial, and either burned to ashes, (which among 
them was regarded as a great indignity) or left to moulder 
above ground and be devoured by Vv'orms." 

Dr. Alexander, of Princeton, X. J., agrees v/ith Bishop 
'Wiiateiv as to these expressions. A. Barn^^s on these texts 
say>. '• the worni feeding on the dead, shall not die. — shall 
live hnig — as 10112 as there are carcasses to be devoured; 
and xh^fire, used to burn the bodies of the dead shall con- 
tinue lono- to biii'n. and not be quenched till they are con- 
sumed. The figure, therefore, denotes great misery and 
certain and terrible destruction.-' See his notes on Mark 
9 : 42-50. 

If then the /?g?//T used in Mark 9. denotes utter dcstrvx- 
tion. T ask v.-hat riaht Alexander, Barnes, or any others 
have to 'rold that Chirist did not mean to teach destruction 
by it ? Bishop Whately saw that he did. and teaches it 
as the doctrine of the Bible in his works : and he is one of 
the most leariied living writers, and the present Episcopal 
Bishop of Dublin. 

The Jews CfKild understand tliese terms in no other sense 
than utter desti'uction ; and it is bold work to say Christ 
aimed to deceive them. 

I will again call attention to the fact, that no continuance 
of misery in Gchciina is taught in the twelve texts, except 
as it is inferred by wrongfully explaining the terms '-fire 
por be <iuenchedf" found in three ot" them; and by assurn- 
ing that the soul is i^nfnurhu. and so cannot be destroyed 
in Gehenna. Tnat these terms i;re wrongfully explained, 
is not ouiV proved from the Bible, but by the common use 
of ian2nnge. If I say my house took tire last year, and it 
could not be put otit. or was not que/iclied^ \\o\x\di\o\\ say, 
the lire is then burning yet "? 2n o. the inference is under- 
stood even bv a child — the i/.n/isc is burne<] up ! 

See Isa. 1:31 ■ ' ' ' : Jer. 4:4; 7 : -0 ; 17 : 27 : Ez. 
20 ; 47. — t':-;Se 'e^' i- that unquenciiable 6re*' 

ri,_- _ ' ' nation, [ nust 

bc.--,^ . . _ - . . npportin^ end- 

less woe, s.^-n n ue aadeJ to me long catalogue tor t/6'- 
struction. 

McCulloh, M.B., of Baltimore, in a learned work just 
published, entided, Anahjticcd Investigations concerning 



THE WORM AND UNQUENCHABLE FIEE, 



67 



the Credibility of the Scriptures ; and of the rehgioiis sys- 
tiim inculcated in them' —in which he advocates briefly the 
views I liold, — says, v. 2, p. 487, " That this piirase tm- 
quvnchaile jlre was understood only in the sense of an in- 
tense tire tiiat toially conmmed what -ever was subjected to 
it, is evident from the use made of this very expi'ession by 
the prinutive Christians (A. D., 267) in describing the 
martyrdom of certain of their brethren. Thus Eusebius 
(Eccies. His. lib. 6, chap. 4ij in two places uses the very 
words of ]\ratt. 3 : 12, (unquenchable tire,) which has been 
translated by Cruse, ^ an immense or intense Jlre^^ in which 
certain Chri:?tians were burnt in Alexander by their hea- 
then persecutors." 

The Bible vs. Tradition, p. 223, quotes the same. Eu- 
nus and Julian, were finally consumed in an immense fir 
{pari ashesto). "With such facts before them, I ask why do 
we hear the learned often quiblino- about t lie Greek phrase 
'ptiri astesto^ as meaning that it will hqyuv consume^ or bring 
to an end ? 

G. Tartortis (hell), as we have seen, is no proof for either 
side, as it tells not tlie doom of devils at the judgment, nor 
of any ■place of punishment except the air or earth v»'here 
they and ourselves now are. Quoting this text to prove 
^ hell ov toruient, endlessly continued beyond the judg- 
ment, is a striking proof of the blindness of orthodoxy on 
this subject. 

A BRIEF REVIEW. 

Here let us review — - 

(1.) AYe have found 200 texts and words, the primary 
sense of which evidently shows the final destruction of the 
wicked, and of course disprove their immortality 

(2.) Ten passages, plainly telling that the universe is to 
be cleansed from all enemies to God, and consequently so 
far as relates to the orthodox, proving destruction. 

(3.) Thirty texts I have called and showed to be neuter. 

(4.) I have showed that the tifty-four texts with hell in 
them, are either ueuter, or testify for destruction. 

Making a total of 294 texts. 

Leaving out the ten for restitution, all the rest have been 
claimed and used as proof of endless woe. We have then 



68 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



284 witnesses removed from the stand of our opponents. 
Quite a reduction one would think ! I am often told, that 
if but one text plainly tells endless woe, that settles the 
point. This rule would be of force, if there were no op- 
posing texts, and we could agree what is a plain text. But 
on this rule, I might say, I have quoted 210 texts for de- 
struction, a large share of which are as plain as the English 
language can make them, therefore the doctrine of destruc- 
tion is established. As about all doctrines, however, have 
more ox Xqs,^ apparent contradictory texts, they should be 
carefully canvassed to see which class of texts preponde- 
rates. Why the Spirit thus inspired the language of the 
Bible, is not for us to say. Not observing this rule, and 
taking time to balance evidence, are the great causes of 
error. Texts for the two doctrines I am examining have 
never been fully thus balanced, and those who assert that 
they have been for ages past, betray great ignorance of 
Bible lano^uaae and of theological works. If investio;ation 
had been made, it would have been written. Edwards, 
Dwight, Fuller, and others, just say enough to show they 
had not investigated the subject, or else they kept their re- 
searches to themselves. 



CHAPTEE V. 



11. AN EXPLANATION OF PARTICULAR TEXTS SUPPOSED TO 
TEACH ENDLESS WOE. 

Leaving out the classes of texts spoken of in the last 
chapter, let us see what remains to sustain the popular 
doctrine. Prof Stuart claims but fifteen^ and we shall see 
he has far too many. Andrew Fuller claims but Hvelve as 
indicating tiiiie of woe, except the three I have examined, 
with the terms, the tire shall not be quenched," in them. 
So he claims but fifteen. I affirm there is not one plain 
text in the Bible for the doctrine ; and will endeavor to sus- 
tain my position by explaining all the fifteen texts thus 
claimed : asking the reader to withhold anathemas till he 
has ''heard me patiently." 

I will first refer to them all, to make some general re- 
marks on them, and then explain them separately. 

1. Isa. 33 : 14, "Who shall dwell with everlasting burn- 
ings 

2. Isa. 66 : 24, " And the fire is not quenched." 

3. Dan. 12:2, ''To shame and everlasting cont erupt.'''' 

4. Matt. 5 : 26, " Not come out till the utmost farthing 
be paid." 

5. Matt. 18 : 34, " Delivered to tormentors, till all is 
paid." 

6. Matt. 25 : 41, " Depart into everlasting fire,^"* 

7. Matt. 25 : 46, " Go to everlasting punishment." 

8. Mark 3 : 29, ^' In danger of eternal damnation^^^ (con- 
demnation). 

9. Jtihn 3 : 36, « Wrath ubideth on him." 



70 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



10. 2 Thess. 1 : 9, Punished with everla^\ing destruc- 
tion:^ 

11. 2 Pet. 2 : 17, ^' Mist of darkness is reserved /orer^r.'' 

12. Jude 13: ''Is reserved the bUickaess of darkness 
forever P 

13. Jude 7: 7, Vengeance oi eternal firs^ 

14. Kev. 14: 10, 1 i, ^'//^o/ie' of iheir torment ascendeth 
forever and evQr. 19 : 3, Her smoke rose vx"^ forever and 
every Xote. — These reter to one event. 

15. Kev. 20: 10, Devil — tormented day and mghx for- 
ever and every 

These are all I can find which are quoted to prove pro- 
tracted ivoe^ escept the three; (properly but one,) in Mark 
9, which I have showed are positive yioo^ oi destricction. 

On these passages I remark. First ^ They are feio when 
compared with the 210 opposing texts I have referred to. 
They iwefeio too, \\hen we consider the awfulness of the 
doctrine to be proved by them. 

Secon^Jd/f, All but four are in the parables and figures 
used by Christ; or in toe extreme (as is admitted.) figura- 
tive and symbolic language of Isa., Dan., and Rev. Of 
these four, one (2 Thess. 1 : 9,) is decided for destruction^ 
and I have only quoted it to answer an objection ; the other 
three are figurative, and proved so by the terms ^' mist of 
darkness'* and ^'fire^ 

Our best critics say, and say rightly, that no doctrine can 
be originated and settled b}' parables and symbolic lan- 
guage. A doctrine must first be expressed in plain terms, 
and then figures may illustrate it. I ask where in the book 
of God it is said, in plain terins, that the wicked shall sut^- 
fer endless misery or torment after the final judgment ? — 
Echo answers, wlierel By the above rule, advocated by 
the orthodox themselves^ these firteen texts do not lay the 
first stone in the foundation of their towering fabric ; and 
my assertion is proved, that not a plain text for endless woe, 
can be found. But Christians generally seem to think that 
Christ taught in a plain style. It appears strange to me 
now, that when investigating this doctrine, so little notice 
has be-n : : of Christ's words in John 16: 25, These 
thin-^ \ -poken uii^o you in rjrcverbs^\jvX the time 

comet n wutal shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, 
but I ebaj] show you plainly uf the Father.'* Xotico-^ 



MAIN TEXTS EXPLAINED 



71 



This was said in his last discourse, and s d of course refer- 
red to all he had taught; and the time'' of his speak- 
ing plainly," is by inspiration through the apostles ; who 
never tell of a /ze/A nor intimate endless woe. '-Without 
a parable, spake he not an:o the n.'"~ ]\I at. 13 : 34 : and 
in Mark 4 : 34, it is h And wlien liu^y were alone, he 
expounded all thin2s to Hseiples." But notice, only a 
small part of this " expounding'' is written. 

All the great doctrines of the gospel are tauaht by many, 
and the most important, by scores of texts ; and then 
sonaetimes illustrated by sim.ilitudes. I ask if a more im- 
portant doctrine exists than the one we are considering — 
not the m.omentary, but the eterna./ con sequences of sin I ! 

TJdi'd/y, In seven of these texts the wocd. fire \^ used; 
and in Bibla j-.id <:n3 1's, /Z/*^ is about univer<:ii'y a sym- 
bol of utter dcstruczio f. These seven are ; turrher 
proved to be synibolic by this te: ;n. W (^n G )l3 
tV)otstooi do we hear of/?/-^? being Li ; - :n 
man made systems of divinity ? The n people are 

wont to c.iW saJtix preserver. ixuAfcre a . j :/ v._-r. 

FourtJiIy^ Twelve of these texts derive all t; c ^ V);ceor 
proof of this territic doctrine rVom the uncertain terms alo)i 
(for ever)> and its adjective, (dordos ^everiastinz). 

To show brietly their uncertcnn manning in the Bible, I 
remark, that any one, by Cru'len s large Conor 1 m ?-. can 
find, in a tew hours, over ^^00 texts, l^c-^ - ror 
future punishment, in which n.-e-e w- r . ex- 
press limited time. Pres. £ ^rms 
occur 104 times in the X. T. : c.:.a i-av > i . c -.>. c c >nean 
temporary duration, an.d in se^'en of them the ir;ean si^^ ;n,.y 
be doubtful/' — m.^kni:: naj-t one hul:^ Sa\-s a iearnei 
writer, ^* These terms are iransiaied in the Bible, twei^ty- 
five times oul^ and of old — >ix times oncieii: — :bnr limcs 
long — rive tunes age an '1 o'zes — and in tiae X. T. tihrry 
times u-or'uy See a \s — Tne sin against the Holy 
Ghost shall not be furgivca in this icorld^ [aion, for ecei\) 
nor in the vj'jrld^ {aion^ for cc^r.) to corne.'"' Here, as in 
most or a i ;'~i.j r a : i ^ icorld^ 

see that . ), that these 

words a: .::cr 1 "a, and the state of 

the saint- .. . _ jiiust mean endless time in 

all tAi^ls, 16 just as absui'd a;:^ to tsay, ivisdOivo, and power ^ are 



72 



DEATH NOT LIFE 



applied to God and men, and as God is infinite in wisdom 
and power, therefore men must be*. 

This is but an item of the evidence that these terms are 
variable and uncertain in their meaning, and that the con- 
text must settle their import as being endless or not. 

Destructionists, however, only need to limit these terms 
in Isa. 13 : 14 ; Eev. 14 : 11 ; 19 : 3, and 20 : 10, and these 
texts I shall prove mean only earthly judgments. Univer- 
salists need to limit them in others. 

Prof. Stuart, on these terms, as used in the N. T., says. 
On this enquiry, of course depends, substantially, the 
issue of the question before us referring to endless misery. 
So it comes out that the mighty fabric of imrnortaliUj and 
endless torment, is founded " substantially'' on these two 
terms thus uncertain in their use in the Bible ; and, so far 
as Destructionists are concerned, on their use in four ex- 
tremely symbolic texts : and these four texts, if proved to 
refer to earthly judgments, a5 I have said, the whole foun- 
dation will be swept away, according to Stuart's confession. 
Any one can see too that Stuart is correct; for no other 
terms help sustain the doctrine ; except as the one, " the 
fire shall not be quenched," has been wrested from its Bible 
meaning to aid in the case. This is the reason so much 
has been said to prove these terms always mean unlimited 
time, notwithstanding over 200 texts positively forbid it. 

Look over the 210 texts for destruction, and it is plain 
that we need not depend at all on these variable terms to 
prove the wicked will eternally cease to be. " They shall 
he no rnore^^ — Destroyed without remedy ^''—^ utterly 
perish, and perish as the beast s^'^^ — 7iot be written with the 
/ivi?ig,^^ — ?iot see lifep and other terms show this. I ask 
the attention of Universalists to this fact, while I admit 
they are right in holding that aion^ &c., do not prove the 
doctrine of endless woe, and that it is not found in the Bi- 
ble. Another solemn penalty is found there, for mortal 
man^ which is strictly and literally endless in its conse- 
quences. 0, come to Christ that you may avoid it — live 
and not die;- John 6 : 48-50. 

Fifthly^ I remark, that such are the figures, and such 
the imagery — (so uncertain to us, but not so much so to a 
Jew,) that all the fifteen texts claimed by Stuart as proof 
of endleefs mise^ry, have been given up as proof, by dif- 



MAIN TEXTS EXPLAINED. 



73 



ferent critical writers who hold the doctrine. Not all by 
any one, of course, but some by one and some by others. 
This assertion I shall notice as I examine the texts. They 
have, in reality, all been rehnquished, by the correct rule of 
critics, viz., poetic, symbolic, and figurative books and 
texts can prove no doctrine. 

Again, I assert that nine of these fifteen texts refer only 
to earthly judgments, as I shall prove by the analogy of 
Bible language, and the confessions of our best orthodox 
writers. 

These six remarks, if well considered, certainly show * 
that positive proof for the popular doctrine, is not found in 
the Bible ; and show^, with what I have before said, that 
inferential proof is weak in the lowest degree, even were 
there no opposing texts. But I remark, 

Lastly^ One consideration alone annihilates the whole of 
them ; viz., the overwhelming number of opposing texts. — 
Not only their number^ but their plainness does it. A 
large share of them, say at least 100, are in plain language 
and didactic teaching. 

But, popular opinion ^ will catch at, and can swim on a 
straw' : — or, like * the chameleon, five on air' ; so I pro- 
ceed to test the weight of these fifteen texts separately. 

FIFTEEN MAIN TEXTS EXPLAINED. 

Isa. 33 : 14, "Who among us shall dwell with devouring 
fire ? who among us shall dwell wdth everlasting burnings?'' 

The great Andrew Fuller, in his letters to a Universal- 
ist, gives this text up, as not referring to future punish- 
ment. And well he may, for (1.) by reading from v. 7, 
we see only an earthly judgment is spoken of The ene- 
mies of hypocritical Israel w^ere to be a devouring fire," 
and they were either killed or carried away captive to 
Babylon. Or, if the heathen nations were meant, they 
were to be devoured," and " as thorns be burned in the 
fire." 

(2.) The text is a question, implying that none could 
" dwell in devouring fire,'^'^ Just as Paul asks, " How can 
we escape if w^e neglect so great salvation" ? Everlast- 
ing" is used here in its intensive sense, as in the text 
"everlasting hills." Traditionistfi can see the words 



74 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



" dwell^ and everlasting^^'' in this text, but not chwour^^ 
nor the interrogation point. A few following verses are 
promises to the righteous; but the terms, " bread shall be 
given and water be sure, and meditate terror," &c., show 
that both the threatening and the promises are earthly. 

I will here make what may seem a harsh charge, but 
will prove it correct before I finish these texts, viz., that 
orthodox churches, on this subject, are equal to the catho- 
lics, and much worse than Universalists, in quoting a 
few isolated texts, and neglecting to examine their con- 
nections. 

All orthodox sects holding the doctrine of endless w^oe, 
popular opinion has led ministers and people to treat with 
scorn all opposers, and only quote a few texts without 
criticism, while many of them have no relation to the sub- 
ject. The excuse that ' our fathers have examined th-m. 
and all real Christians believe the doctrine,' have produced 
idleness and contented ignorance. 

(2.) Isa. 66 : 24, " And they shall go forth, and look upon 
the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against 
me, ^ for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be 
quenched : and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." 

I have showed that President Alexander, Albert Barnes, 
Scott, Lowth, and Bishop Whately, say this text only 
tells an earthly scene. It would sound odd, indeed, to 
hear of immortal '•^ worms^'' and " carcasses^^ in the fire of 
Gehenna ! The terms, all Jiesh, coming to worship, and 
adhorring," &c., in this and verse 23, fully prove it is on 
earth ; as ^\flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God." The text seems to refer to the slaughter of Gog 
and Magog, or the battle of Armageddon, where " birds 
eat flesh," &c., told of in Kev. 16 and 19. When, 0 when 
will Christians cease to pervert the precious Bible, by ap- 
plying such texts to future punishment ? Since literal 
worms and fire have been given up, as too absurd, a 
* gnawing conscience' has been invented, with less authori- 
ty than catholics have for a purgatory. 

(3.) Dan 12: 2, Many awake some to shame and 

everlasting contempt." 

(1.) If the " awaking" here foretold could be made a 
literal resurrection, let it be noticed that ^' everlasting^^ is 
only applied to contempt Arnold, the traitor, who 



MAIN TEXTS EXPLAINED. 



75 



awoke to a sense of shame is dead, but held in everlasting 
contempt/^ ; so will the wicked be, if they die as criminals 
at the judgment. 

But (2.) This chapter and the previous one is a vision, 
and extremely symbolic ; so no literal resurrection is meant 
as the context shows. The term many'''' shows it is par- 
tial. When Christ arose none came out of their graves 
but saints," so it cannot refer to that resurrection; Matt. 
27 : 52, 53. The events of this verse, are at the time named 
in the close of chap, ii., and that is before the final resur- 
rection or end of the w^orld. 

(3.) The three first verses of chap. 12, may be thus 
briefly explained, — The time of trouble," v. 1, refers to 
the destruction of Jerusalem. See Matt. 24: 15-21, 
" When y§ shall see the abomination of desolation spoken 
of by Daniel, (Dan. 9:27; 11: 31,) then shall be great 
tribulation." When Christ came Michael stands up," — 
all written in the books," — the election," (Rom. 11:7) 
" awake from the dust,"* not literal graves, — the dark- 
ness of the old dispensation, and Christ gave unto 
them, (the election,) everlasting life," and they ^'shined 
as the firmament" — " as lights in the midst of a crooked 
generation :" Phil. 2 : 15 — and turned many to righteous 
ness." While most of the Jews " aw^aked" to hear the 
gospel, but rejecting it, when the " time of trouble" came, 
— Jerusalem was destroyed, — they ''awaked to shame," 
and are yet held in " everlasting contempt." In Jer. 23 : 
39, 40, we read a like threatening, and probably tells the 
same event. " I w^ill forsake you, and the city that I gave 
you, and cast you out of my presence ; I will bring an ever- 
lasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame?' Who 
quotes Ezk. 37 : 1-J3, to prove a resurrection ? Yet there 
it is said " I w-ill open your graves — cause you to come up 
out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel." 
Isa. 52 : 2, ''Shake thyself from the dust; arise but sit down, 



* Dr. George Campbell says, " The primitive meaning of resurrec- 
tion, is being raised from inactivity to action, and from obscurity to 
eminence."— Note on Matt. 22 : 23. Thus in Rev. 11 : 7-12, the 
'* witnesses" are said to " lay dead to arise and to ascend up to hea- 
ven,*' where all agree literal death and resurrection are not meant. — 
Men often tell of comparing Bible with Bible, but they say, and do 
not." ' ^ V 



76 



DEATH NOT LITE. 



O Jerusalem." The prophets abound in such simili- 
tudes. 

Christ said, ^' This is my fiesh and my hlood^'^ and when 
the Cathohcs wish to establish a particular dogma, they say, 
' thin must he literaV — the Protestants have been their apt 
scholars, in learning about a hell from symbolic language. 
This symbolic text then, can be no positive proof on this 
subject, and a full criticism would show it has nothing to 
do with it. As the murderers of Christ said, His blood 
be on us and our children,'- they will be held in " everlast- 
ing contempt,'^'' whether living, or burned up, root and 
branch." Calvary will never be forgotten. 

These are all the texts I know of in the O. T., where it 
is pretended by any that protracted or endless woe is in- 
timated. And as these fail, we must say, with Stuart, it 
is not there. 

That a God of pity and justice should leave the world 
4,000 years without an intimation of such a doom, if true, 
and in the same time fill more than 100 pages, and make 
more than 3,000 threatenings of earthly and momentary 
sufferings for sin, is a matter of astonishment, which should 
strike dumb its advocates ; and lead them to re-examine 
their parabohc proof from the N. T. ; instead of charging 
infidelity on those who find, in that same 0. T., ninety- 
seven threatenings of death, destruction, &c., as can be seen 
in the above catalogue of texts. And we should think too, 
that this silence, and the awfulness of the subject would 
arouse them to examine the ninety-three texts to the same 
point, in the N. T., found side by side with the dozen pre- 
sumptive ones, claimed to sustain their theory. I am aware 
that some, if not all of the ministers, are proclaiming that 
we take all, or about all our texts for destruction, and the 
state of the dead, from the 0. T. Whether this is done 
ignorantly, or to deceive, I leave the Judge of all hearts to 



We come now to the New Testament. 

(4. and 5.) The first two are alike, viz., Matt. 5 : 26, 
" Thou be cast into prison.. .not come out till thou hast paid 
the uttermost farthing" ; and 18 : 34, And his Lord was 
wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should 



'hel^ tv^o textSj A. Barnes gives up as referring to 



decide. 




MAIN TEXTS EXPLAINED. 



77 



punishment in the world to come. He says on Matt. 5 : 
25-6, " This is still a farther illustration of the sixth com- 
mandment, ...The phrase, " Thou shalt not come out," &c., 
does not refer to the eternity of future punishment — that 
will be eternal, but this passage does not prove it." — Notes 
on the gospel. The parable in 18 : 23-35, he also apphes 
to God's deaUngs with His church on earth. Dr. Clarke on 
these texts says, No metaphor ever proves a doctrine." 

But if these texts do refer to future punishment, death 
will " pay the uttermost farthing," as that is the ^' wages 
(pay) of sin." If endless suffering be the penalty, it will 
he paying^ but never paid — justice can never be satisfied. 
The sinner " owes^^ love and obedience to God ; — will suf- 
fering, and cursing, and hating, pay the debt ? The fur- 
nace for the tares" will be a " tormentor," and none will 
come out" of " the second death." 

I ask, if good sense will say these texts prove what they 
are often quoted for — eternal woe ? Christ, we find, used 
parables to illustrate earthly duties and penalties, as well 
as future scenes. These make up five texts, so far, telling 
only earthly woes. 

6. Matt. 25: 41, "Then shall he say also unto those on his 
left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,pre- 
paredfor the devil and his angels, for I was hungered," &c. 

Here the scenes of the judgment are represented by pro- 
ceedings in an earthly court, and similitudes and figures 
are used, as in the parable of the ten virgins and talents in 
the same discourse. I remark — 

1. In Matt. 18 : 8, 9, " To be cast into everlasting Jire^'''^ 
and " into Gehenna of ^r^," w-e see means the same thing, 
and as these two expressions refer to the same event as 
this one, the doom must be the same. We have seen that 
the "^re of GeAmna" is a symbol of destruction, so the 
same must be meant in this text. 

Historians of the French Revolution, in telling the final 
fate of Louis the 14th, do not mean to make out that his 
doom was various — that of the rack or the Bastile, or 
the block, but simply one — he was beheaded. So Christ, 
in the various representations he makes of the final doom 
of the sinner, must mean but one; and the expression, — 
" cast into everlasting fire" — "into the fire of Gehenna,"— 
"go to everlasting punishment" — burn upaschaff'''' — 



78 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



lose life," &c., must be made to agree in one fate. Tor- 
ment believers talk as if they had never got this idea into 
their heads. 

Again, the apostles were authorized expounders of 
Christ's teachincr, and they in thirty-one plain texts say the 
final doom of the sinner is to be death^ to perish, to be des- 
troyed, devoured, &c., and these six symbolic texts by Christ 
must harmonize with those of the apostles. This remark 
alone compels us to explain the symbols of Christ, on this 
subject, to mean destruction. 

But let us see if this text cannot be harmonized with my 
views, without this 'general argument. 

2. The term fire is always symboHc when literal fire is 
not meant ; and as it is not claimed to be hteral here, of 
what is it a symbol or sign ? I ask special attention to this 
question, as it affects other texts with the term fire in 
them. 

Note — It is the fire, and not the sinner, nor his woe, 
that is said to be " everlasting'- : BXiA fire when used figura- 
tively, often represents an attribute of God, or his nature 
and dispositions. This is plain from Deut. 4 : 24, " For the 
Lord our God is a consuming fire.'^ Heb. 12 : 29, " Our 
God is a consuming fire^ President Edwards says, 
hatred to sin, is as essential to the Deity as the love of 
holiness, as necessary to the general good, that he express 
the former as the latter.'' Butterworth and Cruden, say 
in their Concordances, '^fire is a symbol of God's holiness, 
justice and displeasure with sinners." 

A. Barnes, in his note on Matt. 3:11, ('^ Baptize with 
the Holy Ghost, and with fire^^^) says ^^fire iQ a symbol of 
vengeance^ 

Further, God's aMger^fury^ wrath^ and indignation^ are 
often called y^re, or compared to it. It is used figuratively 
much oftener than any term in the Bible. I will give a 
few examples : — Jer. 21:12," Lest my fury go out like 
fire^ and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil 
of your doings." 4 : 4, is the same. Lam. 2:3," And he 
burned against Jacob like a flaming^?*^/ which devoureth 
round about." Ezk. 21 : 31, " I will blow against thee (the 
Ammonites) in the fire my wrath.'\ Amos 5:6," Seek 
the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out hke fire in 
the house of Joseph, t?,nd devour and there be none to 



EVERLASTING FIRE. 



^xt> >\ h it." Neh. 1:6," Who can stand before his indig* 
nation ? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger r 
his fury is poured out like ^re." Mai. 3:2,'' He is like a 
refiner's ^re." Matt. 3 : 10, Every tree which bringeth 
not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the j'^/t," 
(God's wrath). 7: 19; Luke 3 : 9. 

But Heb. 10 : 26-7, decides this point, and the meaning 
of the text before us, — yes, and all other texts v;ith the 
term Jire in them, which relate to the final doom of the im- 
penitent. " If we sin wilfully... there remaineth no more 
sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of j'tidg- 
ment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adver- 
saries?'' V. 31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands 
of the hving God,'* — to " depart" as " cursed," into, or 
under God's wrath^ for they must fall be " devoured^'' — 
not kept alive and tormented ! 1 

Now call to mind the fact that ^* God and his attributes 
change not," and we see plainly an everlasting Jire'^^ in 
God himself — see it as we see " everlasting love and mer- 
cy'''' there. To be plain — G^od^'s justice., wrath^ and hatred 
to sinners and sin, ever was, and ever will be the same ; 
and as these quahties, or dispositions are called fire^ the 
finally " accursed'''' who " depart," that is, fall under Christ's 
justice^ displeasure^ and wrath., or indignation^^'' fall into 
" everlasting fir e^'' ; and so must be consumed^ as our God 
is a consuming fire!''' 

This Bible view of the term "j^rg, and everlasting fire," 
apphes equally to the term " unquenchable fire^'' and the 
" fire of Gehenna" (hell) and to most, if not all the texts, 
where the final doom of the impenitent is told and fire is 
used. God is an unquenchable, as well as a devouring 
fire" ; and the fire of Gehenna may only mean God's wrath, 
indignation," &c. But it requires a trip-hammer to beat 
this idea into the brains of some men, they have become so 
stereotyped by traditionary explanations of these texts — - 
But few see the bhnding power of old views and explana- 
tions. It is the curse of the Catholic and the Jew ; and is 
just as much so of Protestants, as to this doctrine. (''Let 
the righteous smite me," &c.) 

It is yet a matter of doubt with me, whether literal fire 
is ever intended as the instrument to destroy the wicked ; 
but it may be. And it is comparatively of but little im- 



80 



DEATH NOT LIFE, 



portance for us to know, while it is fully revealed tha^ 
will by some means put an utter end to them. 

Whoever will examine carefully will find reason to doubt, 
as I do. In telling of judgments on the " beast and false 
prophet" alone, j^re and burn^ are used eight times w^here 
literal fire is not meant; and in over 100 texts they are 
thus used. 

This accounts for the frequency of the terms in Christ^s 
teaching, as he inspired the prophets, and spoke in their 
style. 

In Eev. 19 : 20, the beast and false prophet (false sys- 
tems) are " cast into a lake oijire?'' Eev. 20 : 14, " Death 
and the grave are cast into a lake of fire?'' Now notice — 
a nonentity cannot be cast into a literal fire. The idea is 
plainly this — God is displeased with false systems of reli- 
gion, and with deaths and the grave^ — they are personified 
and fall under his displeasure, here called a lake of fire," 
and are put an end to. " The last enemy, deaths shall be 
destroyed.'' 1 Cor. 15 : 26. Notice again — in the next v. 
Rev. 20: 15, (and 21 : 8,) the wicked are cast into ^^the 
lake of fire,"— the same^/?rg as in v. 14, is evidently meant ; 
and if so literal fire is not meant in these texts, but fiery 
indignation^^'' as in Heb. 10 : 27, where the same scene is 
spoken of 

These texts demonstrate destruction. Woe preachers 
admit that/owr things, beast ^ false prophet^ deaths and the 
grave^ are ended by this " lake of fire," — AVhy say the, fifth 
the sinner is ^preserved ? 

A. Barnes says, there is no distinct aflSrmation re- 
specting the mode of future punishment." Note Matt. 
25: 41. As symbolic descriptions of judgments on the 
living ivicked, when Christ comes, are intermixed with 
their final doom, literal fire may be used in the first and 
not in the last. 

3. I remark further on our text : — " departing into the 
fire prepared for the devil and his angels," can only mean 
— sharing the same fate, which had been decreed, ('' pre- 
pared") for devils, who had sinned first. Heb. 2: 14, says 
the devil is to be destroyed," and 1 John 3 : 8, says Christ 
is to destroy his works," — the wicked, and of course they 
are cast into the same ''j^re," or one doom is decreed for 
both, Amen—^^ Let the wickedness of all the wicked 



EVERLASTING FIRE, 



81 



come to an end," and also the wicked themse.h^es^ if it be 
in the alwise plan of our Maker. 

4. Compare this text with Matt. 21 : 44, where Christ 
himself is the stone," (the same as fire in our text,) which 
''falls on^^ (the same as being '' cast into,") the sinner, and 
grinds him to powder" : powder meaning dust^ — ^' dust 
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," poor sinner, if 
not in Christ. Christ will verily be an '' everlasting^^ 
'' stone," ''fire^^' and '' fall on" the last enemy." 

Thus we see that it is the instrument of punishment, 
God's wrath and vengeance, which is " everlasting^'' and 
not the sinner and misery. See another text to illustrate : 
Jer. 17 : 4, " Ye have kindled a fire in mine anger which 
shall hum for ever^ The context shows that Judah was 
slain or cast out of the land, but restored ; so God's wrath 
did not " burn'^'' without end, and " for ever" must be 
limited here, as the fire as well as the efi^ects ceased. Note 
— No " Scriptures" ware written but the 0. T., when 
Christ commanded to search them^ 

With this brief explanation, dare any say '' everlasting" 
torment is intended ? If Christ meant it, why did he not 
say so, instead of using the w^ord fire^ which he knew all 
the prophets, by his own inspiration, had used to denote 
utter destruction ? Why does he never say there will be 
" everlasting" torment or misery^ if he meant to teach it ? 
Remember, the word ''punishment'''^ in v. 46, is not syno- 
nymous with torment, and blind must the learned be who 
do not see it. Let us examine it. 

7. Matt. 25 : 46, " And these shall go to everlasting 
punishment: but the righteous into life eternal," (George 
Campbell's translation). Go away into^ adds darkness to 
the text. 

When a murderer is going to the gallows, it is proper 
to say, he is " going to punishment," but not so to say, he 
is going into punishment. 

1. This text is in the same figurative discourse as the 
one in V. 41, and so cannot be positive proof of a doctrine. 

2. It must mean the same as the 4l8t v., which we have 
seen proves destruction. Christ did not tell two contra- 
dictory dooms in the same parable or symbolic account of 
the jiidgment. 

8, Paul was an authorized expounder of Christ's figura- 



82 



DEATH NOT LITE. 



tive teaching, and his plain language settles the meaning 
of this text to be destruction^ as seen in 2 Thess. 1 : 7-9. 
(1.) Christ says, v. 31, AVhen the Son of Man shall come 
in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit,'' &c. (2.) Faul says, ^' When the Lord Jesus shall be 
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming 
fire, taking vengeance.. ..Who shall be punished with ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from 
the glory of his power.''* Thus we see the event and time 
are the same. Paul's words here, just agreeing with 
twenty-two other positive assertions made by him for utter 
extinction, must decide what Christ meant, or their testi- 
mony is contradictory.* 

4. The Greek word translated punishment here, is kolasin^ 
and is a noun from the verb kolaso ; the radical meaning of 
which is, to cut off, Donegan's Greek Dictionary says, 

kolaso means, (1) properly, to cut off^ or take from — to 
curtail, clip, &c." Liddel and Scott have kolasis (1) a 
pruning, (cutting off,) (2) hence a checking, punishing, &c." 
Thus punishment is seen to be only an inferential or secon- 
dary meaning. Christ never uses this word only in this 
text. 

The words punishment, torment, sorrow, and misery, in 
their variations are used seventy times in our English N. 
T., and this original word is found in only four of them, 
viz.. Matt. 25 : 46, and 1 John 4 : 18, as nouns; and Acts 
4:21; 2 Pet. 2 : 9, as verbs. In the three last they ad- 
mit, and seem to demand the sense of cut off. We have 
seen by the translation of sheol^ hades ^ ghost ^ &c., that no 
confidence can be put in the translators when they come 
to words relating to this subject. Such has been the cor- 
ruption, that the Germans and Hollanders translate kolasin 
by a wo d that means pain. 

The w )rd impHes punishment, but like the word hang^ 

* Boncraoft, the learned Unitarian, who held to destruction, says, 
We read of ' eternal redemption,' Heb. 9 : 12 ; not that God will be 
for ever redeeming men ; but the blessed effects of redemption will be 
eternal. In the same sense we may understand the punishment of 
eternal fire, of eternal destruction, &c. ; not that the act of destroying:, 
or the fire of consumption will be perpetual and eternal, but the effects 
will be. A destruction which will never be reversed, may with strict 
propriety, by called an everlasting punishment." See his sermons. — 
The iAm« remarkf apply to *' eternal judgment." H<^b. 6 :2. 



EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 



83 



i7ig, it also implies the kind of punishment, viz., loss of life, 
as ^ cut off"* means this. 

A. Barnes says, " It means being cut off from hope and 
happiness y This is blank assumption, and destroys the 
contrast — death is the opposite to life, Ps. 37 : 9, 22, 28, 
38, and 34 : 16, tell us the wicked shall be ci^^o^ forever,'' 
and Christ does not mean to contradict David. 

Elhs and Eead in Bible vs. Tradition, translate it thus, 
And these apeleusontai will go eis kolasin aionion to the 
cutting off [that takes place] at the age." 

5« The English word punishment^ means not the same as 
torment. Death is the highest punishment, but not the 
greatest that could be inflicted on the criminal. 

If God should put to death for one year, a prosperous, 
happy man, it would be a year's punishment ; if for a 1,000 
years, and then bring to life, it would be a 1,000 year's 
punishment ; and so, if he never raised him to life, it would 
be an everlasting punishment,^'' but not everlasting tor 
ment. Was loss a punishment to Moses when deprived 
of entering Canaan ? 

Confusion, and the sad effects of old and wrong expla- 
nations are seen in the statement, that the wncked must 
live and be conscious^ or else their punishment cannot be 
said to be everlasting. 

New York Recorder ^ of Isld^j 11, 1853, in an article 
to which I have referred, says, ' The idea of punishment 
involves life^ and is impossible without it' Profound in- 
struction this ! Who holds that a stone can be punished 
with death ? But he adds, ^ To use the term in connection 
with a being whi^h has ceased to exist is simply nonsense.' 
This is a specimen of the sophistry now used by divines. 
Did Christ, or do we say, the wicked will be puiiKshed (^thac 
is, tormented) after they are " cut offV or does Paul say, 
they wull be punished (tormented) after they are destroy- 
ed V Where does the Bible say they will be tormented 
after they are burned up as chaff and tares ^" 

Weigh these remarks well, and we see the ' simple 
nonsense' belongs to the muddy brain from whence 
these vain statements came. Query: — Is such a brain a 
proper one to instruct the rising ministry ? 

If God should say to Gabriel, ' In one year I will, for 
disobedience, blot you out of existence for ever,' I think 



84 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



Gabriel would feel and say, * It is a great, and everlasting 
punishment.' 0 ! tell me not I must rot eternally in yon- 
der gloomy grave, even if there is to be no second death''^ ! 

6. The learned editor, Mr. Lord, of New York, in oppos- 
ins: H. H. Dobney, on destruction^ says, " This text only 
tells the destruction (cutting off) of the living wicked who 
are on the earth when Christ comes the second time ; and 
they are not to be raised and judged till after the thousand 
years." Here is another sample of the strongest texts be- 
ing given up, as I have said, owing to their uncertain mean- 
ing. See his Review^ for 1850, p. 411. 

This is one witness turning traitor to his party. But let 
us hear a better one. 

7. Pres. Edwards, in his Eeview of Chauncey, the Uni- 
tarian Eestorationist, v. 1, p. 80, when proving sin to be 
an infinite evil, which Chauncey had denied, charges 
Chauncey with admitting it, by admitting that annihila- 

would be just in God. In remarking on Chauncey's 
admission, he says, Endless annihilation is an endless or 
an infinite punishment. It is an endless loss of, not only 
all the good a man at present enjoys, but of all that good 
which he w^ould have enjoyed throughout eternity, in the 
state of bliss to which he would have been admitted, if he 
had never sinned. This in an endless duration, would 
amount to an infinite quantity of good. Annihilation, 
therefore, is an infinite punishment, both as it is endless^ 
and as the quantity of good lost is infinite.. .That annihila- 
tion is an evil, no man will deny, who allows that existence 
and happiness are good.. .final annihilation then is an infinite 
evil, as it is inflicted in disapprobation of sin." 

He says much more to illustrate and prove this point. — 
And here is good sense, and conclusive proof that our text, 
though it bears against Universalism, bears not against 
destruction^ but favors it. 

We see Destructionists need not limit the sense of ever- 
lasting in this text, and all the cry about it is vain. The 
cutting off, or destruction," will be endless. 

We are told by most ministers now, (J. G. Stearns 
among them,) that annihilation, loss of life and glory ^ would 
be no punishment to the sinner — no terror in the prosp^at 
— rno motive to induce to seek for life and heaven I 

Thus " thd witnesses agree not among themselves" ; an4 



EYERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 



85 



we ask who manifests the most wisdom. Edwards, or those 
who, against the light now being spread, still struggle to 
prop up their falling doctrine, by such Babel-hke language 
— death ^ no punishment I 0! "tell it not in Gath^ pub- 
hsh it not in the streets of Askelon,- lest the enemies of 
God's church triumph" over the weakness and confusion 
of the standard-bearers ! 

This is altogether the strongest text in the Bible, from 
which to infer endless woe, and properly the only one. I 
ask if it looks strong enough to vanish the 210 opposing 
texts ? Xo, it is a silent witness even if there were none 
to oppose it. It cannot make out even a prima facio. case ; 
and yet it is quoted as4f it was a full refutation of destruc- 
tion; and quoted with the same air of triumph and scorn 
that Luther beheld in his popular opposers. 

8. Mark 3 : 29, ^'But he that shall blaspheme against the 
Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of 
eternal damnation:'' 

Darkness has been thrown over the Bible by the learned 
corruptly explaining damn, and damnation'- to mean eter- 
nal torment. Thus even Webster's Dictionary gives this 
popular notion, as one of its meanings, and so deceives the 
unlearned. He took it from popular use and not the Bible. 
The light of the present day begins to drive ministers to 
own it only means condemnation. Christ says, " Some 
will come forth to the resurrection of condemnation" 
(damnation). But what are they condemned"' to ? or, 
what is the punishment of the condemned ? The Bible 
says it is "everlasting destruction," and "the second 
death," and as there is to be no recovery from this death, 
it is proper to say it is an "' eternal condemnation." This 
word only shows it is ^^laZ, just as " the e^erna/ judg- 
ment ;" Heb. 6 : 2, denotes 2. final decision, and not that the 
judgment would last for ever. The Syriac Version has it 
— " But is obnoxious to eternal judgment ;" and this makes 
it agree with Heb. 6 : 2. This text is no witness. 

9. John 3 : 36, would explain itself, had not traditionary 
explanations blinded the Christian world on this subject. 
" He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life ; but the 
wrath of God abideth on him." " Not see life^'^ not be 
alive^ and yet be in torment ! ! 

The wrath of a government abides on the murd#r«r, and 



86 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



if not forgiven, he must die ; and if it does not raise him 
from the dead, it abides on him: thus God's wrath will 
abide eternally on the destroyed sinner. 

Geo. Campbell renders it, " The vengeance of God 
awaiteth him.'' The Bible is perverted when this text is 
used to prove endless woe, as it is direct proof of destruc- 
tion. It is strong proof against restoration. 

10. 2 Thess. 1 : 7-9, " When the Lord Jesus shall be re- 
vealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire 
taking vengeance.. ..who shall be punished with everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
glory of his power." 

There is no avoiding full proof of my views here, only 
by adding favorable'^^ presence, as deluded men are do- 
ing. In Lev. 10 : 2; 9 : 23-4 ; and Num. 16 : 19, 35, we 
learn what is meant here — And fire went out from the 
Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." 
If Christ " devours" the wicked in any way, they will be 
from his presence," but not so if they are ahve any where. 
Again, if the fire in which he is revealed" destroys them, 
the fire comes " from his presence." Here are two of the 
most natural ways to explain, '^from the presence of the 
Lord," without adding to God's book. 

Note — (1.) If there is to be no recovery, it is proper to 
say '^everlasting destruction^ (2.) Why did Paul not 
say everlasting^'' torment or misery if he believed it, and 
not attempt to deceive by the word destruction" ? (3.) 
This text, as it tells the same event, must mean the same 
as Heb. 10 : 26, where " fiery indignation devours the ad- 
versaries." 

" Woe unto them that put darkness for hght, and light 
for darkness." Isa. 5 : 20. 

11. and 12. 2 Pet. 2:17; and Jude 13, are one in mean- 
ing. ^' These are wells without water, clouds that are car- 
ried with a tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is re- 
served for ever." Jude has it, raging waves.. .wandering 
stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for 
ever." Here we have full evidence that the language is 
figurative as the apostles sometimes used figures, and none 
as much so as Peter and Jude. 

The figures here favor destruction much more than life 
in woe, as the analogy of Bible language shows. 1 Sam. 



EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 



87 



2:9," The wicked shall be silent in darkness^ Job 17 : 
3, " If I wait the grave is my house, I have made my bed 
in darJcness.^^ 10 : 21, 22, " I go even to the land o^ dark- 
ness^ and the shadow of death; a land of darkness, as dark- 
ness itself" Ps. 9 : 17, The wicked shall be turned into 
sheol," the state of the dead. These texts, we see, must 
mean the same as Ps. 92 : 7, " When the workers of ini- 
quity do flourish, it is that they ^diSS^h^ destroyed forever?^ 
Desperate must be the case, and confused the mind which 
relies on these texts for proof of endless woe. 

The three parables of Christ in which " outer darkness 
and waihng" are told, will be seen to refer only to God's 
deaUngs with Jews, Gentiles, and his church on earth. — 
They are in Matt. 8 : 12 ; 22 : 13 ; 25 : 30, and are more 
easily proved earthly events than Matt. 5:26; 18: 34, 
which Barnes admits to be so. No time is told for the 
wailing, and it is only inferred to be endless by divines. — 
The second death will produce waihngif they refer to that. 

In these two texts, the word for ever" is added to show 
the doom is final ^ just as in Ps. 92 : 7, " destroyed forever?^ 
These texts have not even a shadow of evidence in them 
against destruction ; but they have against restoration, 

13. Jude 7, " Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the 
cities about them, in like manner, giving themselves over 
to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth 
for an example, suflering the vengeance of eternal fire." 

I remark (1.) The people have been kept in the dark by 
being taught that ^^eternaP means unending, though " ever- 
lasting'^' does not ; while the learned know they are from 
the same original word aiojiios. (2.) The Syriac N. T. 
has it — are placed beneath everlasting fire, being doom- 
ed to judgment." 

The ^' eternal fire" is now admitted not to be hteral fire, 
and so only is a symbol of God's justice, displeasure, &c., 
which are eternal in their nature, as I have before ex- 
plained. 

(3.) What is meant, is plain from 2 Pet. 2 : 6, where the 
same thing is told in plain language, which Jude tells in 
figurative. " And turning the cities of Sodom and Go- 
morrah into ashes, condemned them_ with an overthrow. 




88 



DEATH NOT LITE, 



these cities which is the ensample,'' and not their suffer- 
ing in another state. 

(4.) If suffering in another world was to be an exam- 
ple," why did God not tell of it till 2,000 years afterwards, 
and then only in this very figurative language, and also 
have Peter and Jude make contradictory statements 
about it? 

(5.) Luke 17 : 29, 30, says, But the day Lot left So- 
dom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and de- 
stroyed them all : even thus shall it be in the day when 
the Son of Man is revealed." Where will this "eternal 
fire and suffering" be when all the wicked are " destroyed" 
at Christ's coming ? 

Lastly, If it could possibly be inferred from this text, 
and the rich man (and they are the only ones in the Bible 
from which to infer,) that the wicked are now suffering 
somewhere, it would not be a particle of proof that they 
will suffer after the "wailings" of the ^'second death." It is 
when that comes that Christ is to " destroy the last enemy 
and " the works of the devils 

We have now examined all the texts in the Epistles ex- 
cept Eevelation ; and find only three figurative texts from 
which to infer endless woe ; and one other (2 Thess. 1 : 9,) 
used for the purpose, by adding to the Bible. By turning 
to my hst, thirty-seven plain texts are found in these epis- 
tles for destruction. Who are fanatics and jump at con- 
clusions, without " searching the Scriptures" ? " He who 
sitteth upon the throne," will erelong decide this question. 



CHAPTEE VL 



EIPLANATION OF TEXTS CONTINUED. 
THE SMOKE OF TORMENT. 

13. and 14. Although it is agreed that the Book of Eev. 
can settle no doctrine, yet ^' the smoke of their torment,'' 
(Eev. 14: 9-11,) is constantly quoted as conclusive proof 
of endless woe. 

To understand the .expressions here, and in ch. 19 : 3, 
both referring to the same events, we must read from this 
verse to the end of ch. 19, and mark well the connection. 

A. Barnes, in his notes on Eev., just pubhshed, rightly 
connects the events of these five chapters. In his Analysis 
of them he says, ch. 14 : 9-12, " Tells the final overthrow 
of all the upholders of that anti-christian power (papacy), 
Ch. 15 — the seven plagues are 'to fill up or complete the 
wrath of God on this persecuting power ; and ch. 16 tells 
the execution of the purpose, by the pouring out of the 
seven vials on this beast. 

The seventh vial, vs. 17-21, tells the complete and final 
overthrow of the papal power, (the beast and false pro- 
phet,) ch. 19, is a further representation of the fall of 
powers opposed to the Son of God, and the introduction 
of the millennium. Vs. 19-21, the heast^ &c. — the last 
enemy of the church on earthy is destroyed^ and the way is 
prepared for its universal triumph." Mark well this con- 
fession. 

This is a brief and faithful synopsis of these chapters ; 
and we might ask— if the " beast and false prophet'' and 



90 



DEATH NOT LIFE 



their upholders^' are destroyed ^' on the earth^^'^ previous 
to the millennium, and of course, previous to the j udg?7ient^ 
how Mr. Barnes or any one, can transport the smoke of 
torment" to a future world, and have it unending ? When 
the beast," &c., are spoken of, not an intimation is found 
in these five chapters of their doom at the judgment, or in 
eternity — only earthly judgments are described, and they 
are ended before Christ comes to judge and raise the d^ad. 

To further assist the reader in learning what is meant 
by the smoke ascending for ever," if he wishes to see for 
himself and not be led Catholic-like, I will refer him to a 
few texts which fully show a limited earthly scene is in- 
tended. 

The figure, or comparison and language, is evidently 
taken from Isa. 34 : 9, 10, where it is said of Idumea, "The 
land thereof shall become burning pitch — it shall not be 
quenched night nor day ; the smoke thereof shall go up /or 
eve?' : from generation to generation it shall he waste ; none 
shall pass through it forever and ever^ But persons do ''pass 
through" it now : so that " for ever and ever" has passed 
away. 

Modern travelers tell us, this land is blown over with 
sand, and no one dwells there ; but we know they will 
w^hen it is included in the " new heaven and new^ earth," 2 
Pet. 3 : 13. Here we see '-^ for ever emd ever^^ must be 
limited ; and the " smoke going up for ever^^ is only for 
ages — is on earth, and not unending. If teachers studied 
the Bible and would show the people the similarity of 
these two judgments on wricked powers on earth, they 
would have less sin to answer for. 

But instead of doing this, too many, as to this subject, 
study " vain babblings, and oppositions of science wisely 
so called, and so err concerning the faith." 1 Tim. 20 : 2i. 

The beast and false prophet are identified, and only their 
earthly destruction is told of through these five chapters. 
In 16 : 10, one vial is on '' the seat of the beast,^^ (Eome). 
In 18 : 9, The kings of the earth see the smoke of her 
burning.''^ Do kings on earth see burning in ^e/Z ? V. 
15, Merchants weep, and ''stand afar ofi* for fear of her 
torment.^^ In v, 18, '' sailors cast dust upon their heads, 
and cry, when they see the smoke of her burning." 

Chapter 19 is another description of the final end of the 



THE SMOKE OF TORMENT. 



91 



beast and false prophet." See v. 20. On v. 21, Barnes 
says, " The remnant were slain with the sword — cut down 
with the sword ; not rescued for protracted torment.'' In 
vs. 18, 21, we see birds eat the flesh of kings, horses," 
&c. This tells the final end of the beast and false pro- 
phet," and of " the smoke of their torment," on earth, but 
not a word is said of their doom at the judgment or be- 
yond this state. 

Before referring this text (14: 11) to a future world, 
why do not men, or ministers who have time, read on to the 
end of these symbolized judgments, and then enquire — 

Will there be Jiesh of kings and horses^'' in he/l? and 

birds,^^ there to eat" it ? Let us not blame Universal- 
ists any more for quoting isolated texts, nor yet charge Ca- 
tholics with ignorance of the Bible." 

When Destructionists are charged with forsaking or 
murdering the Bible, have they not good reason to retort, 
— first pull the beam out of thine own eye," — physician 
heal thy self" ? 

It could be proved, if we had space, that this smoke 
of torment" is now '^ascending," and has been for two 
"/or evers^^ (^ges). Since the French Revolution in 1779, 
the " vials of God's wrath," have in a special manner, been 
pouring upon every catholic country on earth. " The seat 
of the beast is full of darkness." Italy, the garden of the 
world, is the most wretched land in Christendom. France, 
Poland and Italy have had blood to drink." 

Why has Kossuth moved the United States by depic- 
ting the horrors of despotism on the continent of Europe ? 
Why are protestant Holland, Denmark, and Sweden, com- 
paratively calm amidst the commotions which rend the 
dominions of the ''beast" ? How plainly do the "vials" 
extend to Ireland, and the EepubHcs of Mexico, and South 
America ! " Kings lament for the smoke of her burning," 
and merchants stand afa?- off for fear," The sixth vial 
is pouring on the " river Euphrates." Turkey is " dryino^ 
up." Eev. 16: 12. 

The " seventh vial" is not yet poured out. When it is, 
"Babylon, {the beasty &c.,) will "sink as a mill-stone and 
be found no more." Rev. 18:21. When " ;to wore," 
where will be "the smoke of her tor men f ? Itisj^re- 
sumption in erring men to carry it over the mountain 



92 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



heights of the judgment ! beyond which " there shall be 
no more death, neither sorroit\ crying^ nor pain for he 
who sitteth on the throne makes all things new?'^ Eev. 
21 : 4, 5. 

Albert Barnes admits, and it is plain, that the scenes of 
these five chapters end before the millennium and the final 
judgment, and what reason do Barnes and others assiirn 
for applying this smoke of torment" to a future world ? 
I answer — they assign no reason only that the words ^''for 
ever and ever''^ are twice added to the terms. Let us hear 
Barnes' words as to the reason — " They (the beast wor- 
shippers) were tormented while the smoke ascended, and 
as this is declared to be ^ for ever and ever^ it implies (no- 
tice the assumption) that the suffering of the wicked will 
be eternal ; and this is such language as would'^VLOi and 
could not have been used in a revelation from God, unless 
the punishment of the wicked is eternal." See his Notes. 
The use of the word aion^ for ever, in the N. T., fully 
proves this statement to be entirely incorrect, and a gross 
absurdity. 

I will add a little to what I have said above to show it 
is so. (Seep. 71-2.) (1.) We read of the end of aion, 
for ever. Matt. 13 : 39, 40, reads, ^'so will it be in the 
end of this /or ever, (aionos,) — the harvest is the end of this 
forever, (aionos). Here the translators have used decep- 
tion to cover up the meaning of the word, by rendering it 
" world,^^ instead of age. 

Matt. 24 : 3, and 28": 20, the truth is hid in the same 
way. See also Heb. 1:1, and I Cor. 10 : \ \, v^here for- 
ever is rendered world and worlds. In Heb. 9 : 26, /cosmos, 
the proper word for world is used, and also aion ( for ever,) 
and both are rendered tcorld. How does it sound to tell 
of the end of eternity ? 

(2.) The Bible tells of a number of eternities, if for ever 
has this meaning. Eph. 2:7," That in the ages to come," 
&G. Col. 1 : 26, " The mystery which hath been hid from 
ages and generations." In these texts the word is aionon, 
the plural of aion, for ever, and here it is translated ages, 
as it ought to be. But are there many eternities ? 

(3.) In 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1 : 2, and other texts, we read 
of a time before eternity began, if /or ever means eternity. 
Thus in thirty texts, aion, for ever, is translated world and 



THE gMOKE OF TORM^Nt. 



93 



worlds, and only in two, ages ; and does this not look like 
a design to cover up its meaning ? 

When the material world is meant, kosmos is used, and 
it is put world 188 times in the N. T. Stuart says, (p. 69,) 
" For ever and ever is a mere intensive form of expression, 
and so means no longer time than /or ever^ I will quote 
more from his work named above. On p. 15, he says, 
"The classical sense of aion^ (for ever,) is (1.) length or 
space of time ; and so, time of life^ age of man^ age con- 
sidered as a space of time. (2.) Long time^ eternity^ long 
indefinite space of time. These are the usual significations 
given by lexicographers.'^ 

With this statement before us, what can we make of 
learned ministers who are now telling us, that the only 
c/a552C ilf§aning of aion is, always being I have often 
been thus imposed upon by them. Another quibble is 
used, by saying aion and aionios mean endless^ when ap- 
phed to things of a future world. Suppose this to be true, 
I defy them to show a single text where they are appHed 
to torment, misery, or wailing, in a future state. Surely 
the " worshippers of the beast," (Eev. 14 : 11, and 19 : 3,) 
are on earthy and are tormented and destroyed there before 
a future world begins. 

They only add another quibble, when they ^dij punish- 
ment and torment are synonymous, and refer to Matt. 25 : 
46, which I have explained on p. 81. 

Stuart takes up nine pages to prove these words, when 
applied to God, his attributes, and the state of the saints, 
mean endless. What folly ! who ever disputed it ? These, 
like other words, are used in different senses, and the text 
and context must show their import. 

On p. 24, 25, 37, he says, "the Bible meaning of aion in 
many texts, is, (1.) an indefinite or long period in time 
past ; (2.) age^ in the sense of dispensation, as Jewish and 
Christian age. (3.) It has the meaning of worlds as the 
present and future world. 

I will refer to the texts he quotes to show these mean- 
ings, that the reader may fully understand the deception 
practiced by the translators and learned expounders ; and 
especially by A. Barnes, in the assertion I have called ^ a 
gross absurdity.' Look at it again, and then at the follow 
iag texts. 



t)EATH NOT Life. 



Matt. 12 : 32 ; 13 : 22, 40, and 49 ; 24 : 3 ; 28 : 20 ; 
Mark 10: 30; 4:19; Luke 16: 8; 18 : 30 ; 20 : 34, 35 ; 
Eom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 1 : 20 ; 2 : 6, 8 : 3 : 18 ; 2 Cor. 4:4; 
Gal. 1 : 4; 2 Tim. 4: 10; 1 Tim. 1: 17; 6 :17; Tit. 2: 
12; £ph. 1 : 21; 2:2; Heb. 1 : 2; 11 : 3. 

Here are twenty-seven texts v^'heveaio?i^(for ever,) is trans- 
lated Ivor Id and worlds, and twice ages ; viz., Eph. 2:7; 
Col. 1 : 26 ; and Stuart admits they might, or should be 
translated age and ages, as they have this sense. 

He adds, p. 33-34, All the texts where aion refers to 
future punishment, (as being endless,) are 2 Pet. 2: 17; 
Jude 13; Eev. 14 : 1 1 ; 19 : 3 : 20 : 10." We who hold 
to destruction, need to limit its meaning only in the three 
last ; and I have proved two of these, Eev. 14 : 11, and 19 : 
3, to mean only punishments in this world, both by the 
Bible and the confession of A. Barnes. As I have said, 
Barnes tries to carry the torment of the beast-worshippers 
into a future state, by incorrectly or absurdly stating that 
for ever and ever, ages of ages, must here mean endless 
time. He knew these terms are appHed scores of times to 
earthly woes, and were taken from Isa, 34: 9, 10, w^here 
they are certainly limited. 

As hundreds of learned ministers are still absurdly 
using this text to prove endless woe, my severe charge is 
demanded, and is justifiable. 

On p. 67, Stuart says, " It is plain that the Scriptures 
have not asserted the endless happiness of the righteous, 
if for ever, &c., mean not endless." This is a common re- 
mark by teachers now. Here we have another evidence 
that our teachers are either ignorant of the Bible, or aim 
to mislead in this matter ; while I know they do not in 
others. Let us notice a few out of many expressions which 
prove the eternity of saints and their happiness, without 
these words. 

Luke 20: 36, "Neither can they die any more:'*'' — 1 
Cor. 15 ; 42, " It is raised in incorrujption?'* V. 52, " The 
dead shall be raised incorruptible,^^ — " this mortal must put 
on. immortality — '-^ death is swallowed up in victory,''^ — 
1 Pet. 1 : 4, " To an inheritance mc(?rrwp^i6/e — that/otf^^A 
not away, reserved in heaven for you." 1 Pet. 5 : 4, " Ye 
shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away?'^-^ 
" Heirs Q,nd joint- heirs with Christ."^^ Eom, 8:17. 



THE SMOKE OF TORMENT. 



95 



With such facts before ns, is it not time to search the 
Bible for ourselves, and not heed these teachers when they 
cry against going after new things^ and being changeable^ 
&c.? This they are now doing to stop the investigation of 
the subject T am treating of 

The adjective aiomos can mean no more than the noun 
aion^ from which it is derived, so everlasting and eternal 
mean no more, or are as uncertain as for ever^ though not 
Hmited as often. Stuart, on p. 44, quotes three texts to 
show this : — Eom. 16 : 25, he renders, the revelation of 
the mystery which was kept in silence in ancient ages^ i. e., 
daring all preceding ages?^ Our version is, kept secret 
since the ivorld began?'' 1 Tim. 1 : 6, Stuart, Grace 
given us through Jesus Christ 6^bre the ancient ages^ — 
Tit. 1 : 2, he has the same. Here it seems everlasting^ 
from aionios, is put world by our translators, when it should 
be dges^ in the plural ; and is further proof that eternity 
had a beginning, if our leaders are right in their construc- 
tion of the term. Peter dissembled" in one matter, and 
so do our ^ great and good'' men in the one before us. 

But as I use severe reproof, perhaps I ought to notice 
an excuse for these good men, for I esteem them as good, 
but not perfect, and highly prize and commend most of 
their writings, preaching, &c. This is the excuse — they 
were contending with IJniversalists, and in reality had no 
other w^eapons to use but these terms, (Stuart owns this,) 
as both held to immortahty. They could not consistently 
use the 200 texts Destructionists can, to disprove restora- 
tion. 

It is both amusing and painful to read debates by these 
parties ; such as Ely and Thomas, of Philadelphia, Eice 
and Pengree, of Cincinnati, Stuart and Balfour, of Massa- 
chusetts, — to see how like ''the priest and levite," both 
parties " pass by" these 200 texts. They give some of 
them a passing notice, but dare not criticise the whole or 
any of them ; for if they had, both parties would have end- 
ed even worse than the two fabled Kilkenny cats — in their 
battle — had nothing left. True, they would not have been 
annihilated ; but transmigration would have occurred ; 
and they would have found themselves Destructionists — 
quite a new state ! 

0 ! what sad effects were produced in the " garden," 



96 



DEATH NOT LIFE* 



and is still produced by the devil's falsehood, thou shali 

NOT SURELY DIE" ! ! 

I will just ask — if more good would not have been done 
to Universalist friends, by owning the truth as to these 
terms, and depending more on other parts of the Bible, 
than has been by the evasive and contradictory course 
which has been pursued ? They have plainly seen the 
sophistry, and it has strengthened them in their belief, and 
helped them advance it, by showing that the orthodox used 
deception in one point at least. A similar wrong, with 
like results, has been done by wresting language to make 
out a local eternal helL 

But I add a few more remarks on our text, Eev. 14 :10, 
and leave it. (1.) Notice, the threatening and torment told 
here, is only to the worshippers of the beast. No other 
sinners are included — the " seven vials" which cause the 
smoke of torment," are poured on them only — except one 
on Euphrates. (2.) These vials are poured out " upon the 
earth^^^ not in hell. Oh. 16 : ll (3.) For ever and ever 
should be translated age of age^ or ages of ages, and then 
all dispute would be ended. The whole five chapters com- 
pels them to mean a limited time, to be ended before the 
final judgment. 

We might as well quote the texts which tell the destruc- 
tion of Idumea, Jerusalem, and Babylon, to prove endless 
woe, as to quote Eev. 14:11; 19 : 3, and 20 : 10. No fu- 
ture punishment is told in this book till we come to ch. 20 : 
11, and then no intimation of protracted torment is made 
to the end of the book. 

I will add a page on these texts, from Bible vs. Tradi- 
tion, both to commend the work, and further to illustrate 
my views. 

' Eev. 19 : 2, True and righteous are the judgments of 
God; for he hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted 
the earth with her fornication.... and her smoke ascendeth, 
eis tons aionas ton aionon, until the ages of ages^ 20: 9, 
" And they.. ..encircled the camp of the saints, and the be- 
loved city ; and fire came down out of heaven from God, 
and ate them up. And the devil that deceived them, was 
cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the beast 
of prey and the false prophet are ; and they will be tor- 
raented day and nighty eis tons aiqnas ton aionoKy until th© 



SMOKE OF TORMENT. 



97 



ages of the ages.'' Eev. 14:9, "A third angd followed 
them, saying.. ..If any man worship the beast of prey and 
his image, and receive a mark on his forehead or on his 
hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, 
which is poured out undiluted into the cup of his indigna- 
tion, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur, be- 
fore the holy angels and before the throne, and the smoke 
of their torment ascendeth eis aionas aionon^ until the ages 
of ages ; and there is no rest, by day or by night, to those 
that worship the beast of prey, and its image." These 
are all clear examples of the limited meaning of aion?''' 

The preposition m, which we have translated until in 
these passages, because the context requires it, and because 
in this connection it is in accordance with the strictest 
rules of grammar, can never bear the meaning of ^/or.' — 
Eis properly signifies at ; but this its radical meaning is 
diflerently modified. It sometimes means being at^ either 
as close beside^ or actually within. ^- He actually stood 
{eis) at the door." To enter [eis) into the temple." — 
They shall be fulfilled {eis) at their season." But it like- 
wise denotes motion or tendency towards an object so as 
to arrive at it ; and then may be rendered to or into when 
applied to place ; and until^ when applied to time ; or re- 
ferring to place, " They came {eis) to^ or into^ the land of 
Israel." But, as referring to time^ They feast (eis) until 
sunset." " He that endureth {eis) until the end shall be 
saved." And put them in hold {eis) wn^iZ the next day." 
It likewise signifies directed at^ or aim at^ and then may be 
translated towards^ in respect to^ respecting^ SfC, As all 
the three texts quoted refer to time, we translate eis^ until^ 
as the grammar and context absolutely require. But how 
can these texts teach eternal torments," when they sc 
evidently refer to judgments to take place on the earth, 
and to be inflicted on symbolical personages, or systems, 
which " shall be utterly burned with fire," 18:8; or upon 
a succession of a class of persons, while they continue to 
worship the beast of prey. This is evident from the ex- 
pressions, Go your ways and pour out the seven vials of 
God's wrath upon the earth^^^ during which a space was 
given unto them to repent, " and they i-epented not." ' 

From this brief review, have we not reason to ask — Bo 
the priest's lips keep knowledge'^ in the 19th century? 



98 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



Mai. 2:7. I doubt if a greater perversion of th3 Bible 
can be found in the Catholic world, than is made in using 
these texts to prove endless woe. The Lord forgive those 
who do it,— yea, and myself too, for I have done the same, 
without the research the doctrine demands of every Chris- 
tian. 

THE DEVIL TORMENTED. 

15. Eev. 20: 10. This ends our inventory. Here the 
devil is said to be tormented, day and night, for ever and 
ever'^ ; and on it I remark— 

(1.) The events here told are symbolic, and such pro- 
phetic language is hard to be understood, and is no proof 
of a doctrine when unsupported by other Scripture. 

(2.) Only earthly events arejtold in this chapter till we 
come to the 11th v. ^'Day and night'' are in this ^'/or 
a'^?-," {age) ; and they are not to be in the future world ; 
" for there shall be no night there." Eev. 21 : 25 ; 22 : 5. 
President Edwards, the younger, v. 1, p. 97, on this text 
says, The scene of which this text is a part, is manifestly 
an exhibition of what is to take place before the general 
judgment. This is evident from the context." Bo this 
text is given up, &c. A. Barnes says, there may be a 
long period between the events stated in vs. 9 and 10, and 
those of 11 and 15," — or the judgment — ^if so, these ages 
of ages'''' may run out in this period. 

(3.) These thoughts alone neutralize this text, as ^^for 
et'(?r," is no proof of endless time, unless the connection, or 
the nature of the thing shows it to be so. There is nothing 
in the nature of devils^ men, nor torment, compelling their 
endless existence ; for God, if he will, can end them at any 
time. 

(4.) The events and result of all the judgments told from 
Eev. 14 : 8, to 20 : 11, are comprehensively stated in ch. 
1 1 : 15-18. There, under the seventh trumpet, ^'the king- 
doms of this world become the kingdom of Christ," and 
before that is established, " the time comes to destroy them 
t\\^t destroy the earth" — of course the devil is included — 
when destroyed the " torment of ages^^ must end. This 
trumpet includes the seven vials and briefly tells the judg- 
ment, which is renewed and enlarged upon In ch. 20 : 11, 
and on to the end of the book. 



\ 



THE DEVIL TORMENTED. ^9 

5. The literal devil is not here meant. So says Lightfoot, 
Brightman, and Usher, eminent authors of England, and 
others. Lightfoot's Works, vol. 6, p. 255. 

But Eev. 12:9, compared with 20 : 2, settles it. In 
\2: 9, dragon^ serpent^ devil ^ satan^ £)ccur ; and here all 
expounders agree that the literal devil is not meant, but 
paganism^ which was cast out of the Eoman world after 
Constantine's day, and is symbolized by being *'cast out of 
heaven." This is doubtless correct, and when we find the 
same four terms, " dragon^^ &c., in the same order in ch. 
20 : 2, analogy compels us to beheve that some other cor- 
rupt system, or false religion, resembling paganism, is also 
meant, hj dragon, devil , ^c. 

In 13 : 4, 11, the papacy, becoming a corrupt, persecut- 
ing power, is also called a dragon^^ ; but in 16: 13, the 
" frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, beast, and 
false prophet, shows that some other persecuting power 
besides the papacy, is called a dragon. 

This Magog army, and false and persecuting system 
symbolized by this devil-dragon, are but briefly noticed 
by John, for the plain reason that Ezk. 38 and 39 had de- 
scribed them largely. We have seen that the beast and 
his worshippers were tormented for ages before being 
finally put an end to, (ch. 19 : 20,) and so w^e see the " fire 
from heaven devours this Magog army," but it is to be tor- 
mented for ages of ages by this "^re," God's wrath and 
judgments, before finally devoured." This is symbolized 
by the devil," the deceiver, (in the sense the " beast and 
false prophet" were deceivers,) being " tormented for ages 
of ages." The devouring" in v. 9, is not said, and need 
not be understood to be sudden ; and so it tells the same 
time as v. 10, when the devil-dragon, (a false system) is 
" tormented." The " beast and prophet" and their " wor- 
shippers" were tormented together for ages, and then de- 
stroyed together ; so it is to be with this Magog power, 
and the di agon-devil deceiver. But I have not time to go 
into all the proof of this assertion, nor is it needed for my 
object. 

The Bible fully reveals a literal devil, but his name is 
only used figuratively in Eev. 12 and 20. 

Expounders err greatly by making these " lakes" for the 
beast and dragon-devil, told of before the judgment, the 



100 



DEATH NOT LITb 



same as the second deatK^ lake^ told of ir^ ts. 14, 15, after 
the judgment. The first plainly tells judgments on earth, 
to last for ages ; the latter, judgments after the general 
resurrection. Not a word is said of the dead being punish- 
ed till we pass v. 11. 

I have not room, nor is it necessary to my purpose, to 
show w^hat corrupt system or power is meant by this dra- 
gon-devil and Magog army. Keith, in his Signs of the 
Times^ after writing several hundred pages, was compelled 
to say, the Turkish power is meant, and that the " fire 
from heaven," is now devouring them — that this fire is the 
same as the sixth vial poured upon the river Euphrates," 
Eev. 16 : 12. Prof Bush agrees with him in his work on 
the Millennium^ written in 1832, before he became delud- 
ed by mesmerism. He gives the best exposition of Eev. 
20 : 1-10, I have ever seen, and I must beheve that a few 
years wall show him and Keith correct. Bush makes plain 
or removes all objections to his views, found in these 10 
vs. It is now settled by the best late critics that v. 5, is 
an interpolation, except the clause, this is the first resur- 
rection." 

I cannot see that his plan interferes but little with w'hat 
is called ^ the age to come^^ as that, if correct, (which I have 
not had time to read and decide about,) is mostly founded 
on other parts of the Bible. 

History settles one fact, viz., the pagan Turkish power, 
since 1821, (Keith's time,) has l>cen in the same lake^ 
(God's judgments,) "where the beast (papacy) w," and 
has been " tormented day and night for more than one 
agey When the " seventh %ial" comes, and the battle 
of Armageddon," (Eev. 16 : 16,) the " smoke of torment," 
and the " dragon-devil's torment," must end, for the last 
enemy will be destroyed ; and the " kingdoms of this w^orld 
become the kingdom of Christ." 

Note — " The seven /as^plagues" are finished before these 
uncertain thousand years begin, and why shou d we say 
there will be an eighth plague after they are finished ? 

I have showed the folly of makmg the term /or ever and 
ever^ carry these torments into a future state, while every- 
thing else in Eev. up to 20 : 11, forbid it ; and from this v. 
on, no protracted woe is told, but the reverse. 

Hardly any tw^o w^riters ever agree about Eev. 20 : 1-10, 



THE DEVIL TORMENTDE. 



101 



and this shows the extreme folly of depending on them to 
prove endless misery. 

The error, of inferring endless woe from Eev., is owing 
to the fact that but few take the necessary time to study 
the book, and compare its symbols among themselves, and 
with those of the 0. T., from which most of them are taken. 
Barnes and others do not pretend that the judgments and 
torments apply to another state, only as they force them 
there against their natural import, by falsely concluding the 
term /or ever and ever must mean endless time.* 

On Isa. 34 : 9-10, " The smoke thereof shall go up for 
ever," &c., Barnes says, " The idea here is, that there 
would be permanent and utter destruction. The image 
is evidently taken from the destruction of Sodom." Is it 
not unaccountably strange, that when he came to Rev. he 
could see no ' image^ only an imaginary heathen hell^v^\iQVQ 
smoke w^ould ascend for ever I ! AVhy could he not see 
Jer. 23 : 40; 17:27; 4:4; 7 : 20 : 21 : 12; Ez. 2 : 45, and 
scores of other texts from which the imagery of the N. T. 
is taken ? 

As to the term lake of fire," it occurs five times, and 
only in Eev. ; but the idea it conveys is often found in 
other symbohc terms in the 0. T. See Eev. 19 : 20 : 20 : 
10. In these, it evivlently denotes heavy earthly protract- 
ed judgments of some kind, w^hich are to result in ending 
the beast, false prophet, the dragon-devil," and their wor- 
shippers. 

Inch. 20 : 14, 15 ; 21 : 8, we are told plainly that it de- 
notes the extinction of death and the grave^ (hades) ; and 
of course of all who are " not found written in the hook of 
life^''^ as they are cast into it. It is called, and so means 
the same here, as " second death." This term settles its 
meaning to be extinction of Hfe. I know a papal deluded 

* I ask the attention of the learned to the statement of Bible vs. 
Tradition on p. 97. Is there not corruption in translating the Greek 
preposition eis by for, in these texts ] It appears to me so. Certainly 
it would be absurd to say, " he that endureth {eis) for the end shall 
be saved." and yet in Rev. 14 : 10. and 20 : 10, time is intended just as 
much as in this text. It is certain that these texts mean ages, 
and it is certain the learned are yet deceiving as to the transition of 
hell, ghost, d^c. and are they not doing the same by putting cisfor^ in- 
Btead of until 7 If the sense is to^ or wniily then the translation of 
aion must be ages in these texts. 



102 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



church, (as to this matter) are telhng of • a death that 
7iever dies I — -just as much common sense in it, as to tell of 
a life that never lives! 

I own that " wisdom shall die with'' doctors who use 
such language, (Job 12 : 2,) but thanks be to God, all 
wisdom will not die with them. Like Job's friends, they 
have one dark confused department in their heads ; even 
confused enough to "speak wnckedly and deceitfully for 
God," as Job's friends did, Job 13 : 7. 

As I have said, it is just as absurd to quote these texts 
in Kevelations to prove endless misery, as it would be to 
quote those w^hich tell the destruction of Sodom, Idumea, 
Jerusalem, and Babylon. 

The design and grand result of the symbolized judg- 
ments, told of in Eev., after ch. 14 : 8, may be thus briefly 
summed up — God for great and wise ends, having permit- 
ted sin and misery to exist for a moment," (Paul's time,) 
here manifests his purpose to end them— Christ, " w^ho 
must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet," (a 
Hebrew phrase for utter destruction) 1 Cor. 15 : 25, Takes 
to himself his great power," Eev. 11 : 17, A fire is kin- 
dled in his anger," Deut. 32 : 22 — corrupt dynasties and 
their worshippers fall under his displeasure ; and after be- 
ing tormented for ages, on earth, are finally ended — " as a 
mill-stone sink and are found no more." — Eev. 18 : 21-24. 
Either at the time of this final destruction, or subsequent- 
ly (the time is not made plain, but sure^) the general resur- 
rection and judgment comes, Eev. 20: 11-15. 

Here nothing is said of beasts, and dragon-devils, and 
their worshippers," as they have all gone to ' hades^^ the 
grave, and state of death ; and now come up with the 
whole human family, without the distinction which had 
been noticed before v. 11, to be judged and receive a final 
doom. Only two classes are here named, — those whose 
names are " in the book of life^'' and those whose names 

are not found there." 

From v. 11 to the end of the book, the final ending of 
sin and woe, in the universe, and the blessed state of the 
righteous are predicted. When all evil and evil beings 
are finally ended, and " Christ shall have delivered up the 
kingdom to God, even the Father" — then Pollok, chang- 



DR. I. WATTS BELIEVED NOT IN ENDLESS MISERY. 103 



Ing the word ^ damned^ will have occasion to sing, and 
with far greater joy of soul, than when he sang his God- 
dishonoring picture of hell— 

" Time^past, 
The righteous saved, the wicked dead, 
And God's eternal government approved,^^ 

** He who through vast immensity can pierce, 

See worlds on worlds compose one universe ; 

Observe, how system into system runs, 

What other planets circle other suns, 

What varied beings people every star, 

Can t«ll why Heaven has made us as we are." — Pope, 

DR. L WATTS BELIEVED NOT IN ENDLESS MISERY. 

In his work on the world to come, p. 162, he says, " Nor do I 
think we ought usually, when we speak concerning creatures, to 
affirm positively, that their existence shall be equal to that of the 
blessed God, especially with regard to the duration of their pun- 
ishment These axons or ages must enter far into the eter- 
nity of God's existence yet to come If the blessed God 

should at any time, in consistence with his perfections, release those 
wretched creatures from their acute pains in hell, either with a de- 
sign of the utter destruction of their being by annihilation, or to 
put them into some world upon a new foot of trial, I think I ought 
joyfully to accept this appointment of God, and add my joys and 
praises to all the songs of the heavenly world, in the day of such 
a glorious release of these prisoners." 

On p. 191, he says, Dr. Thomas Burnet published a treatise in 
Latin, against the eternity of punishment ; and he, (Burnet,) in his 
work, in giving advice to ministers, says, ' Whatsoever you deter- 
mine within yourself concerning those punishments, whether they 
are eternal or no, you ought to use the common doctrine and com- 
mon language when you preach or speak to the people, especially 
those of the lower rank, lest they run headlong into vice, for they 
can be restrained only by fear of punishment. If any should 
translate these sentiments (in his Latin work) into English, I shall 
think he does it with an evil design, and to a bad purpose.' " 

Here Burnet betrays the secret and absurd principle on which 
thousands are yet acting. An old Baptist minister lately told me 
it would be impossible to convert sinners by preaching destruction. 
This is saying, we must preach a lie, for fear God will not, or can- 
not bless the truth. 

Woe unto you, lawyers 1 for ye have taken away the key of 
knowledge," — the Bible — " made it Toid hy your traditions." 



CHAPTEE Vir. 



A BRIEF REVIEW AND RESULTS, 

VTe have now examined and referred to all the texts re- 
lied on to prove immortality and endless woe, ai d let us 
gee the result. 

L AVe have showed that thirty or more texts rehed on,, 
are entirely silent as to endless woe^ and I have called them 
neuter. 

2. That fifty-four texts with the word kell in them, so 
far as any of them relate to future punishment, prove the 
dcstnu tion of the wicked. These two classes with the 210 
texts for destruction, making 294, have "been stolen to prove 
endle^^s misery, and must be given up, as Destructionists 
have a legal demand on them. 

3. Of the fifteen remaining texts relied on, I have proved 
that eight of them tell only earthly judgments, both by 
comparing them with the other texts, and their being given 
up by Fuller, Edwards, Barnes, Lord, and others. 

4. That twelve have no proof of endless woe in them only 
what is derived from the variable words, /br ever and ever- 
lasting^ and that in reality the whole proof rests on them. 

5. That seven of them have the word fire in them, which 
in every case is figurative, and in Bible judgments, is a uni- 
versal symbol of destruction, of men and things. 

6. Tliat some, as John 3 : 36, and 2 Thess. 1 : 9, are 
positive proof of destruction^ unless we add to the Bible to 
make them otherwise — while others, which relate to a doom 
in the future world, as "the mists of darkness^'*'^ &c., favor 
pxtinction more than preservation in woe. 



A BRIEF REVIEW. 



105 



7. That not one is a plain positive witness for endless 
misery, and the strongest are given up by the best writers. 
If any speak in its favor, their testimony is extremely doubt- 
ful or inferential, so as not to make out even a prima facia 
case. 

8. What confirms the last remark is, I have proved all 
the texts to be in figurative layiguage^ such as the best 
Bible critics say can establish no doctrine, even if there be 
no opposing texts — especially must they fail, if there be 
any plain opposing texts. I just ask here, if we have not 
plain texts for destruction ? 

Well does a learned writer remark — a doctrine or sen- 
timent so infinitely opposed to reason and conscience, so 
aw^fully revolting, and utterly incredible as that of eternal 
suffering^ ought certainly not to be founded on, or inferred 
from a few parabolic^ mystic^ poetic^ idiomic^ proverbial^ 
localic^ and symbolic sentences." But, strange to tell, 
every text or sentence relied on to prove this terrific doc- 
trine, belongs to one of these classes. 

There has been a great outcry against Wm. Miller for 
being positive about the prophesies, seeing they are so 
symbolic ; but those who are positive that they find eter- 
nal torment in a future world, in the above-named figura- 
tive texts, betray a hundred fold more folly than Miller did, 
as the consequences of error on this point, are immensely 
greater. God is dishonored, and Christendom filled with 
infidels by it. 

In courts of law these three rules are observed: first, 
the character of the witnesses ; second, the lylainyiess and 
positiveness of their testimony ; third, where they are posi- 
tive on both sides, and no blot is on their character, the 
number on either side determines the case. Now apply 
these just rules to the issue before us. Of course no blot on 
the character of the witnesses (texts) can be admitted, and 
so their plainness and their number must decide the case. 
Of their jo/am/2e55, good sense must decide. Divide 210 
by 15, and the result is 14 to 1 on the side of destruction. 
Deduct the eight which I have proved to refer only to 
earthly judgments, and the result is 30 to 1. On such tes- 
timony in a suit, would not the opposing lawyer be told 
that his case was a desperate and hopeless one ? 

The fact is, if men reasoned on a worldly subject as they 



106 



DEATH NOT LfFE. 



do on this, it would be thought wortly of nothing 
better than ridicule, unless it was popular as theologians 
have made immortality and an eternal hell. 

It is unaccountably strange too that the number of texts 
should be so small, both when we consider the awfulness 
of the doctrine, and the number of texts telliog the final 
reward of the righteous, and other cardinal doctrines. — 
They are few too, when, as I have said, we find more than 
3,000 warnings, threatenings, and denunciations made, in 
relation to the temporary consequences of sin. If the com- 
mon theory be true, who can tell why our merciful Father 
should feel so deeply for the welfare of his creatures in this 
short life, and feel and say so little about their woes that were 
to be unending ? Yes, and for 4,000 years say nothing 
about those woes, nor warn to escape them ! ! 

The profound mind of John Foster said, May we not 
think that, if so trayiscendently dreadful a doctrine had 
been meant to he taught, there would have been such forms 
of proposition, of circumoclution, if necessary, as would have 
rendered all doubt or question a mere palpable absurdity." 
See his noted ' letter to a young minister,' who, by the 
by, proves to be Edward AVhite, a Congregational minis- 
ter, now of London, who has written an able work to prove 
the doctrine I hold. Its title is, Life only in Christ." — 
If Foster had criticised the Bible as his pupil has, he 
would not have given the preference to restorationism. 
He names the two doctrines and says, " One of them must 
be the truth, but acknowledges he had not directed much 
thought to annihilation 

I know the word hell will be clung to as proof of a 
world to be inhabited by wretched b^^lngs. An old pro- 
verb says, ^ a man may tell a falsehood so often as to final- 
ly believe it a truth' ; and in like manner the word hell, 
has been reiterated, till Christians think it is outrageous 
sacrilege to disturb it Like purgatory to the Catholics, 
it has become a darling ivord and conclusive proof of or- 
thodoxy. 

I have proved that Christ only meant to tell a disgrace- 
ful death by being cast into Gehenna," and not that there 
would be such 2k place eternally. 

If men, who think clearly on other subjects, could get 
this idea into their snarled-up and conceited minds, we 



A BRIEF REVIEW. 



i07 



should hear no more of a " dismal world^ deep m the ima- 
ginary regions of despair; where God-ahnighty who is 
love^ itself) has stored up some unknown materials of 
vengeance^ sufficient to last through eternity" — (blasphe- 
mous language II) 

I will justify the remark that our ministry are too con- 
tAted and dogmatical, by a sentence of the great and God- 
ly Dr, Vinet, He says, Even now, after eighteen cen- 
turies of Christianity, we are very probably involved in 
some enormous error ^ of which Christianity will at some fu- 
ture time make us ashamed," The doctrine of an eternal 
hell for endless woe, is such an enormous error and the 
church will yet be askanied of it Yet most are as posi- 
tive there is such a place as if they had seen it with their 
own eyes, Woe unto them that are wise in their own 
eyes, and prudent ia their own sight." Isa, 5:21. 

We have now before us the foundation of the mighty 
fabric — immortolity and consequent eternal torment^ for a 
greater share of our race — we see its length, and breadth, 
and solidity. On this foundation our opponents profess to 
feel as secure as soldiers in Gibraltar. I ask which looks 
most like a Gibraltar, these 15 texts, or the 210 quoted for 
destruction I 

On such testimony^ not only the doctrine of endless woe 
is founded, but also the following consequential doctrines, 
or items of belief. 

L That it is consistent with ih^ justice of God, to create 
innumerable beings whom he knew or foresaw would be 
endlessly miserablcj and curse him for their creation. [He 
is now causing to come into being about 60,000 daily. If 
half are lost, he is daily creating 30,000 for endless woe. 
May not our sense o^ justice ask how long he will continue 
this work ! ! . ^ 

2. That it is in accordance with his love^ goodness^ pity 
and mercy ^ to create^ and then afflict thus. 

8, That |t will be consistent with his wisdom^ and poii^er, 
to continue, endlessly, that ^' abominable thing he hates" 
^^in—aho, thus to continue misery^ in which " he de- 
lighteth not" and over which he grieves." [Would it bo 
wise in a king to permit rebellion, and consequent misery 
to continue for ever if he had poiver to end them ? 

4. That saints, and all holy beings in the universe, will be 



108 



DEATH NOT LIFE, 



for ever the happier for this continuance of misery and sm 
and hatred to themselves, their God and Eedeemer. Mark 
— " all things work for good to all who love God "* 

5. That saints, when made perfect in heaven, will be desti- 
tute of, or deprived of qualities which God commands 
them to possess in their present state — such as pity^ sym- 
pathy^ sorrow for others woes, " good will to allj^ &c. 

Do not flinch, brethren — these items of belief are the 
unavoidable fruit of your system— the legitimate children 
of hell- torment teach ers^ and they must own them, and 
cherish them^ though forbidding in their appearance. 

Prof Stuart, (see Biblical Eepository, July, 1840,) was 
so troubled with two of these items of faith, that he made 
this astounding remark- — " Perhaps God may in mercy ex- 
tinguish our social suscejjtibilities in heave?i^^ !! — -Make 
us hermits^ so that we can hear the groans of the damned^ 
and stoic-like, be unmoved by their hopeless wail ! ! 

Surely the foundation for such a faith should have a 
pyramid-base — be supported by scores of plain texts, and 
no opposing ones — be made far more plain than the pro 
mise of life to the righteous ; for if they should perish as 
the beasts, seeing they have sinned, God's character would 
remain untarnished in the view of his other creatures ; and 
these creatures rejoice for ever that rebellion and woe had 
ceased to exist. 

But I ask if the texts I have reviewed afford such a 
broad foundation ? I ask with mingled feelings of joy and 
sorrow — joy, that God's word does not teach such a soul- 
chilling and God-dishonoring doctrine — with sorrow for 
the sad fact that most of the excellent ones of the earth" 
are teaching it, and burdened by it — with sorrow, too^ 
that the " blind are led by the bhnd, and both are fallen 
into the ditch" of error — a gloomy ditch, where wheat 
indeed grows, but is much choaked" by " wood, hay and 
r^tubble," so that it cannot " bear sixty and a hundred fold." 



* In Mount Auburn, (Boston,) I saw a lovely marble monument of 
a dear dead child, which the parents had obtained to keep in their 
house, but had to remove it, as they could not endure the sight ; yet 
tlie marble child suffered not. Pres. Edwards and other great divines, 
who formed our systems of divinity, and whom the present clergy 
seem to think are infallible guides, say that the saints will see theiF 
frfends writhe for €V«r in liUralfire, 



A BRIEF REVIEW. 



109 



After four years' examinatioD, I am compelled to dissent 
from the view of some great and good men who have re- 
jected endless woe. H. C. Dwight, A. M., and Professor 
Sears say, That Dr. Tholuck, and other eminent and 
pious divines of Germany, who hold to restoration, ac- 
knowledge that the N. T. seems to inculcate the doctrine 
of eternal punishment, (meaning misery by the term punish- 
ment,) while others contend that it is not apparently an- 
nounced there." The latter is my belief I own ever- 
lasting punishment not only seems^ but is plainly taught, 
in the sense Pres. Edwards gives it, viz., " that annihila- 
tion is everlasting punishment but neither the N. nor 
the 0. T. seem to teach everlasting torment. Take the 15 
texts I have examined, and add to them the 12 with Ge- 
henna in them, (those with sheol and hades, [hell], in, can 
be no witnesses,) and weigh well the relative force of evi- 
dence among themselves, or give them a full criticism, and 
I fear not to affirm that they afford strong proof of utter 
destruction, without going to the 200 texts I have quoted ; 
unless it be first proved from some other source, that the 
wicked are immortal — this we have seen cannot be done 
— the texts to prove they are to suffer for ever, are the 
only ones to prove they are immortal. 

Strange as it may at first appear to my readers, yet it 
can be shown that we have, in reality, no need to fetch our 
210 swords into the battle-field, for like David, we can cut 
off Goliah's head with his own sicord. I will show how 
this can be done by a little repetition. Of the fifteen texts 
I have proved that eight tell only earthly woes — two 
'plainly prove destruction — add to these two the eleven 
with Gehenna in, (in James it is no proof,) and as Gehenna 
is a perfect symbol of destruction, we have thirteen to 
overbalance the five remaining ones of the fifteen. And 
these five are merely inferential. One of them, Matt. 25 : 
41, " Depart into everlasting fire," we have seen denotes 
destruction. This is telling briefly how Goliah's head can 
be cut off* with his own sword. 

Let any one fully examine the 0. T., and understand its 
symbols, figures, and poetic style, and then read the N. T. 
with special reference to this subject, and he will agree 
with me; unless some selfish interest warps his judgment, 
or his judgment itself is too weak to grasp an argument. 



HO 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



The neglect to take time (and it requires much t'.me) for 
this examination, on the plan I have briefly adopted above, 
is one great reason why those great men erred. 

But they with Bishop Newton, and the eminent John 
Foster, who erred in the same manner, took for granted 
that the wicked w^ere immortal, and this was another grand 
cause of their error. They saw the N. T. seemed to inti- 
mate no recovery after the sentence at the final judgment ; 
and this caused the confusion. The Bible mtist seem to 
contradict itself wofully while the immortahty of the wicked 
is believed. 

But a day-star of hope has arisen — the scales have fallen 
from many eyes, and I must beheve that our God designs 
to give his people more enlarged views of his word and 
government. 

The nineteenth century has regulated brains so as to use 
steam and lightning, and it will yet regulate them so as to 
use the figurative language of the Bible aright. A hint 
will be taken from the example of the noble Bereans," 
and Apollas," and to use a comparison, a telegraph: line 
will be established between the 0. and the N. T. Newly 
constructed telescopes too, have enabled us to see far into 
the regions of space, and we believe the vision, the power of 
thought, will be magnified, so as to see far enough into 
eternity to discover that a glorious eternal life affords a 
sufficient motive to action while on earth ; and that its loss 
at the judgment would be a punishment — yea an everlast- 
ing punishment — seen to be so by all the living, eternally. 

The living perceiving the loss sustained by the dead, 
will constitute an eternal monument to exhibit the evil of 
sin, and God's displeasure against it, without having a 
State Prison, a Bastile, or an abominable Inquisition-dun- 
geon left to pollute the fair universe. 

In a sad delusion must the mind be, which conceives 
that God's allwise government will require such an exhibi- 
tion for ever. 

UNIVERSALISM AND ORTHODOXY CONTRASTED. 

In examining the Bible on the consequences of sin, as to 
our future final destiny, the class of texts relied on by 
Jniversalists and Eestorationists, demands a more serious 



UNIVERSALISM AND ORTHODOXY CONTRASTED. Ill 

attention than Christians generally believe ; but I have only 
room to notice them briefly. I will use the terms Univer- 
salism and restoration as synonymous, for when we duly 
weigh the import of eternity, we see the difference is com- 
paratively small. 

One object of this brief notice is, to make torment teach- 
ers ashamed (if possible) of their infallibility, and violent 
warfare against Destructionists. When the Bible is righty 
canvassed, the only legitimate dispute is between Destruc- 
tionists and Eestorationists, while endless misery should be 
treated something as we treat Mormonism. Traditionists 
may call this remark outrageous folly if they please — I owe 
and own allegiance to none but my God, and my grey 
hairs admonish me to fear none but Him. 

A Universalist tract is in circulation containing 1 00 texts 
for their views. I have examined them, and find some 
fifty, which, when combined, afford much stronger proof 
for the restoration of all men, than do the texts for endless 
woe, when combined in a like manner. A work called 
The Reason of our Ilope^ claims 1,000* passages as direct- 
ly, or by impUcation, sustaining restoration ; and though it 
perverts the sense in many texts, it perverts it in none more 
grossly than have the orthodox in many which I have re- 
ferred to, and explained. Verily, it can do no w^orse than 
completely reverse the sense ; and this the orthodox do in 
scores of texts. See Burn Up^ Devour ^"^"^ S^-c. ^-c, 

I will quote a few texts for restoration. 1 John 4:14, 
" And w^e have seen and do testify, that the Father sent 
the Son to be the Saviour of the world?' 2:2, " He 
(Christ) is the propitiation for our sins : and not for ours 
only, but also for the sins of the whole world.''' Eom. 11 : 
32, For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he 
might have mercy upon ally Eom. 5: 18, 19, "There- 
fore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men 
to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the 
free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. — 
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sin- 



* This vast number need not astonish us so much when we learn 
that they claim all texts which tell God's natural and moral attributes 
as favoring their views. They say, and say justly, that all of them 
seem to be disparaged if endless woe be true. 



112 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



ners, so by the obedience of one shall many be mdde 

righteous y 

This chapter alone is more conclusive proof for restoration, 
than all the combined texts are for endless woe, leaving out 
the 284 which I have called stolen ones. 

1 Tim. 2:4," Who will have all men to be saved, and 
come unto the knowledge of the truth." Compare with 
Isa. 56 : 10. Isa. 45 : 25, " In the Lord shall all the seed 
of Israel be justified, and shall glory." 53: 6, " All we 
like sheep have gone astray.. ..the Lord hath laid on him 
(Christ) the iniquity of us all^ John 12 : 32, " And I, if 

1 be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me?'' 

2 Cor. 5 : 14, 18, " We thus judge, that if one died for all^ 
then were all dead." "To wit, that God was in Christ 
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their tres- 
passes unto them." Ps. 86 : 9, " All nations whom thou 
hast made shall come and worship before thee, 0 Lord ; 
and shall glorify thy name." Dan. 9 : 24, Christ is " to 
finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins^ and to 
make reconciliation for iniquity." John 1 : 29, " Behold 
the Lamb of G od, which taketh aivay the sin of the worlds 

Here are fifteen texts which prove my assertion, as they 
are not as figurative, and are vastly more decisive for final 
restoration, than are the fifteen claimed to prove endless 
woe. 

But we are told that the contexts and opposing passages 
do away their proof Very well — but this rule is not a 
one-sided thing, and Universalists can apply it to measure 
the orthodox texts. I have applied this rule to all the texts 
for endless woe, and find the contexts silence their testi- 
mony ; and the opposing texts for destruction swallow 
them up, or leave them " twice dead, plucked up by tha 
roots." 

Universalist books abound, in which they apply this rule, 
as I have done, and the people seeing the proof for endless 
woe fails; and being taught both by the orthodox and 
Universalists, that all men are immortal ; and hearing no- 
thing of th^ doctrine of destruction^ they unavoidably say 
* all will be saved? 

Add to these fifteen texts some twenty of a similar na 
ture, and then add the ten I have quc/ted for the cleansing 
of the universe from wo© and sin, and we see why Ee- 



UNIVERSALISM AND ORTHODOXY CONTRASTED. 113 

storatiouists are so positive, and their doctrines spieg^d in 
our thinking and reading age. Multitudes of thoughtful 
unconverted men and women think on this subject, and 
think more correctly than most professors, for the obvious 
reason that they are not hooped-up to think in a circle^ by 

iron-bedstead" creeds, and traditionary fetters ; nor yet 
over-awed by fear of being cast out of churches. 

One thing should be noticed in these texts, viz., they can- 
not be made to cut their own throats, so to speak, as can 
the fifteen texts claimed to T;)rove endless woe. Nothing 
can do away their proof but the opposing texts for de- 
struction. 

The orthodox have taught the people to mystify the 
plainest part of the Bible, (which I rely on) and restora- 
tionism has been the legitimate result. Make deaths life^ 
destruction^ (of the man^) perish^ burn up^ ^fc.^ figurative^ 
and Univere^iJists have about as good ground for saying 
(as they do ^ay,) that they only mean the ending of sin and 
evil^ or violent death and judgments on earth ; as their op- 
ponents have for saying (as they do) that they only mean 
the ending of happiness^ or to make miserable. 

The fact is plain to all who investigate^ as the greatness 
of the subject demands, that if all men are immortal, and 
these terms are figurative, Eestorationists have the truth ; 
for the texts for endless sufiering weigh but little when put 
in the scales to balance the texts, and the arguments from 
the attributes of God, for restoration. I am well aware 
that this will astonish many, for but few in our day have 
investigated this as they have other doctrines, They have 
been content to float with popular opinion. 

The vicarious sufferings of Christ, or his dying for our 
sins, (not strictly as for debt, but for crime,) is the only 
foundation of our hope of " eternal life" ; and one of the 
great errors of UniversaHsts is in rejecting, as they general- 
ly do in this country, this doctrine ; and not simply in be- 
heving that the universe will be cleansed from evil* 



* I aim not to misrepresent the views of any sect ; and I understand 
the views of Uuiversalists to be, that Christ died, properly, as a mar- 
tyr only, to confirm " the glad tidings," that God's purpose was to 
save all our race. In England, I learn from one of their periodicals, 
they hold the atonement as the orthodox do, and only differ from 
them in saying it will be applied to all, whether faith and repentance 
be exercised or not. 



il4 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



They think, many of them, much on this subject, if they 
do not on other points of doctrine ; and they see clearly, 
with Bishop Newton, the noted writer on the prophecies, 
who says, Nothing can be more contrary to the divine 
nature and attributes, than for a God all -wise, all-power- 
ful, all-good, all-perfect, to bestow existence on any beings 
whose destiny he foresees and foreknows, must terminate 
in wretchedness and misery, without recovery or remedy, 
tvithout respite or end. God is love, and he would rather 
have not given life, than render that Hfe a torment and 
curse to all eternity. Im.agine such a state of mis- 
ery you may, but you can never seriously believe it^ nor 
reconcile it to God and goodness.'^'^ — Newton's Works, v. 6, 
London edition, 1787. 

By assuming^ like others, immortahty, Newton was 
driven to restoration ; where all Protestant Christendom 
will soon be, if the delusion of immortal-soulism continues 
to be taught as heretofore. Catholics may keep ignorant 
enough to still believe in their purgatory. But a great 
reason of their continued belief is, that their hell is almost 
infinitely better than the Protestant hell: as their popes 
and priests can pray all out of it ; while from the Protes- 
tant hell, divines say, the Almighty himself can dehver 
?ione, ' 

We need not w^onder that thoughtful Protestant Ger- 
many, as is now admitted,* have all gone over to restora- 
tion : and that go-ahead England and America are just 
upon their heels. As to the unconverted, we are now side 
by side. Our clergy and the church are not aware of the 
state of things in our land. Secret Universalism and 



* Prof. Stuart, in the Biblical Repository, July, 1840, says, A be- 
lief in the future repentance and recovery of sinners, has become wide- 
spread in Germany, pervading even the ranks of those who are regard- 
ed as serious and evangelical in respect to most or all of what is called 
orthodox doctrine, saving this point." He adds, Not a few persons 
in our community (U. S.) secretly Sive Restorationists ; and among them 
are not a fern of the professed preaxhers of the gospel. H. E. D wight, A. 
M., (son of Pres. Dwight.) who traveled in Germany, says, I have 
been but one person who believed in the eternity of future punishment 
in Germany." The latter writings of Prof. Stuart plainly show that 
himself was a secret Restorationist.' 

It is now ascertained that the great Christian philosopher and wri- 
ter, Dr. Thomas Dick, fully believes in restoration. 



rmVERSALISM AND ORTHODOXY CONTRASTED. 115 



skepticism are many fold greater than they will believe 
them to be. In two years- special enquiry, I have found 
but one unconverted man who would own to me, (knowing 
my views) that he believed in endless misery ; and he 
would not have done so, had he not been in company where 
it was pojmlar to profess such a belief 

The Church of God, while aiming to do good and save men, 
by erring, has ^^Towg^<i the XJniversalist — has made them 
such — has persecuted them for errors into which she had 
driven them. As is common to erring man, one extreme 
drives to another. Our absurd penalty has driven millions 
to the opposite extreme of total restoration ; to sustain 
which, and harmonize it with the Bible, other errors had 
to be adopted. It is slander to charge them, as many do, 
with throwing away the Bible (some are led to it,) as an 
ultimate guide — they generally reverence it as the grand 
charter of their hopes for a future w^orld — in this we agree. 
We owe them a vast debt, and should make sacrifices to 
pay it — we whose eyes God in mercy has opened, to see 
the delusion of all Christendom on this subject, should con- 
fess our former errors to them, and if possible, convince 
them that the Bible means literally what it says — The 
wages of sin is death." 

When they and the orthodox cease from the sad erroi' 
of mystifying the plain language of the book of God, and 
let it speak out its common- sense meaning, both parties will 
find no pigmy work, but more than a Herculean task to de- 
molish the 200 adamant pillars on which destruction is 
founded. 

^' Be not deceived, for God is not mocked," — if ye live 
after the flesh, ye shall die" — not live in a theological hell, 
nor yet be chastised, and then live and reign with Christ," 
in the " new heavens and a new earth." Gal. 6:7; Rom. 8 : 
13; 2 Pet. 3: 13. 

One outcry against Destructionists now is, that they are 
on the road to IJniversalism. This is just such logic as the 
New York Recorder used, viz.. If God has given to the 
brain the power, quality, or attribute, of thinking, reason- 
ing, &c.^ then no angels exist, or God has not created any 
spiritual beings whatever ; and further that we cannot be 
" raised a spiritual body," as 1 Cor. 15 : 44, predicts. — 
^See the Recorder of May 11, 1853). It is such an ab- 



116 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



dity too, as is manifested in saying — ' If we have a spirit 
or soul that leaves the body when we die, and lives till the 
judgment, then that soul is iminortal, and God cannot 
destroy it at the judgment. That beheving God will '-burn 
up the wicked, root and branch," as he has said, should 
lead to Universalism and infidehty, is strange logic to me, 
however it may appear to college-learned divines who use it. 

These are specimens of all the arguments I have been 
able to find against our views. 

It may be said that I ought not to collect and quote 
these Universahst passages — I answer first, the Spirit has 
written them ; and secondly, that my opponents are de- 
ceived if they think the masses do not know^ they are in the 
Bible. 

With this summary view of the texts used by Eestora- 
tionists, as opposing the weak and uncertain texts for end- 
less misery ; and also of the texts opposing them, by teach- 
ing destruction — what shall we say — what think, of the 
dogmatical spirit and language of the church — of its boast- 
ed knowledge of the Bible — its opposition to further in- 
vestigation — its persecution of those who will investigate 
and proclaim what they learn ! 1 — Especially w^hat can we 
think of those w^ho are learned in the ori spinal lano^uaofes ! — 
of the responsibility resting on them in this matter. For 
some cause, (God knows best,) they evidently " shun to 
declare all the council of God," and " make the vision 
plain." Acts 20 . 27 ; Hab. 2 : 2. 

I have already given my reasons for being severe in my 
charges. If I have erred, or those who love our God and op- 
pose me err, there is a consoling truth — with the Lord 
.there \s forgiveness.'^ 

Brethren in Christ, you must either yield to the doctrine 
of destruction^ or with Germany, yield to restorationism — 
investigation ivill go on, and annihilate your yet too popu- 
lar, but fast-waning theory of eternal torments ! Which 
horn of the dilemma will you choose ? rather which doea 
the great umpire.^ the precious Bihle^ direct you to em- 
brace ? 

Of one thing be assz^re^^, as Co wper justly and .wee^/z/ 
sang — 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



.17 



The groans of nature in this nether world, 
Which heaven has heard for ages, hare an end. 

For all things were once 
Perfect^ and all must be at length restored. 
So God has purpos'd ; who would else 
In his dishonored workSy himself endure 
Dishonor^ and be wronged without redress." 
Amen and Amen. The Task, bool ^th. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

Having a little space in the 120 pages assigiicd to this 
work, I add— 

1. I have said the ministers (and deacons by their side) 
oppose reform in doctrines^ (not in practice). We need not 
go to papal history to prove this. The Protestant clergy 
drove the Puritan fathers from England. See how they 
now" persecute the missionaries in Armenia, Greece, and 
Germany — imprisoning the Baptists, &c. Who drove 
Eoger WiUiams among the savages, and hung the Quakers? 
I answer, ministers stimulated the people, and thus accused 
them to the civil authorities, just as papal priests have ever 
done. Even Calvin was a leader in having Servetus put 
to death. The Baptist and Methodist know the bitter 
opposition of the clergy in the Eastern States, in former 
years, and yet themselves are now in the same warfare 
against the advocates of /z/b through Christ alone. 

Ministers nobly oppose error^ but they fight all truth 
which does not happen to be in their creeds with the same 
zeal. 

They also contend for most of the blessed truths of the 
gospel, but they war for popish errors retained in their 
creeds with equal warmth. If all the fallen angels, and all 
the tyrants, infidels, and atheists of earth, were to hold a 
convention to invent the greatest slander against the Al- 
mighty, (excepting the one against the Holy Ghost) they 
would have no new work to perplex them — they would only 
have to look over the creeds, and finding the doctrine of eter. 
nal torments there; and learning that the ministry illustrated 
it by " Dives in flameSy they would resolve — ^ No need of 
further deliberations,' and adjourn sine die, (^' I am not 
mad, most noble'' D.D ) They would see, (if idle, super* 
ficialj or iuterested thinkers, as to this subject, do not) 



118 



DEATH NOT LIFE. 



that the doctrinej rooted up, polluted, reversed or darken- 
ed every revealed attribute of our Maker. 

Yet this doctrine, without a single plain text to support 
it, is now contended for with equal, or greater zoal than 
are the atonement, salvation by faith, &c. The slander of 
the New York Recorder^ and other periodicals — the pul- 
pit — the cold shoulder^ &c., &c., prove this to be true. — 
Of course there are exceptions to this general charge. 
Some will impartially investigate a new doctrine and con- 
front popular views, at any sacrifice ; and they with the 
people effect reforms. But where did a popular minister 
ever commence a reform ? Where ? 

2. My space requires rae to be thus brief. If Provi- 
dence permits, and the sale of this cursory work warrants 
another edition, I will add a chapter or two on the objec- 
tions to our doctrine, the reasoning to sustain endless woe, 
and other matter which I could not consistently introduce 
in a consecutive argument (as I have endeavored to give) 
drawn from the Scriptures. The texts I have referred to 
also may be further illustrated by analogy of Bible lan- 
guage. 

If, however, the Bible teaches destruction, as I have 
proved it does, all objections against it, and all reasoning 
for endless woe, are ''vain babblings^'' \ but as these are 
now the main weapons of ministers and people, they need 
warding off, and we are prepared to do it. 

3. Luther's courage is only needed to tear endless woe 
from all creeds, in a few years. Brethren, you who be- 
heve in the destruction of the wicked and hold your peace ; 
ask yourselves what Luther's greut reward will be eter- 
nally ? Eead Matt. 5:11,12,^' Blessed are ye when men 
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely," &c. Do 
you not wish for the " great reward in heaven ?" "Why 
bridle your tongues and close your purses, when your own 
^' heavenly riches^^^ and the honor of our God and Re- 
deemer are at stake ? 

Eead with care Ps. 69 : 9, " The zeal of thy house hath 
eaten me up ; and the reproaches of them that reproached 
thee are fallen upon we," said He who suffered and died 
to give you and me eternal life. 



EMINENT MEN WHO REJECT ENDLESS WOE. 



119 



ENGLAND ON THE VERGE OF UNI VERSALISM, 

From the New York Evanjsrelist of December 17, 1846. 

" The recent Convention in London, for the formation of the Evan- 
gelical Alliance, has unveiled the fact, that the so called Evangeli- 
cal religion of England, and of Europe, is infected, to an alarming 
extent, with a tendency to Universalism. The doctrinal basis, as 
drawn by those who managed it from the outset, contained no avS- 
sertion of everlasting punishment, nor of the soul's immortality. 

On this side of the Atlantic, many at first regarded it as an 
omission, a mere oversight. Others who had visited England, as 
Drs. Cox and Patton. knew and said the omission was intentional, 
and they meant to include those who disbelieved in future punish- 
ment. This apprehension was found correct, when the convention 
assembled. More will yet be known, but enough is already known 
to make it highly probable that the original basis would have re- 
mained, had not the American brethren, with much effort, changed 
the course of the Convention." 

England has enjoyed profounder schools, and thought longer, and 
of course ought to think more deeply than our new country; but 
our current of thought is rapid, if not deep, and a little more cor- 
rect perceptions of God's attributes, must explode endless woe, both 
here and in England, as it has already in Germany. Where shall 
we land] 

WRITERS AND EMINENT MEN WHO REJECT ENDLESS MISERY 

John Lock, Esq., John Foster, Henry Melville, B. D., Hon. 
James Stephen, K. C. B., Alfred Addis, B. A., Bishop T. Newton, 
Bishop Whatelj. Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Dick, Author of the 
'* Christian Philosopher," &c.. Dr. Henry More, Dr. T. Burnet, 
Bishop Tillitson, Wm.' Whiston, Dr. Samuel Clark, Dr. TTm.' 

Paley, Bishop Warburton, Bishop Hurd, Bev. Broughton, 

James Brown, D. D., Rev. F. Leicester, Rev. R. Clark, Rev. J. 
Tyler, of Conn., Bishop Law, author of the Serious Call," Dr, 
L Watts. 

Watts seenis to teach it, but his works show that he used forever 
and everlasting in a limited sense, and in this way he concealed 
his real belief. 

These all remained or remain in their churches, and never openly 
professed L'niversalism. Some adopt destruction ; so it is not true 
that all the good and learned have believed in endless misery, as is 
often affirmed, and which, if true, would be no pi-oof of the doc- 
trine, as to err is human." 



INDEX. 



Introduction, pag( 3-8. 

ImportaDce of the subject, p. 4. Brief history of the doctrine of 
Destruction, 6. Objections to investigate remoyed, 7. 

Chap. I. — The doctrine of destruction proved, 9. * Immort-al souly 
not in the Bible, 10. Twenty terras, as die, perish, destroy, bum up,'* 
&c., used 200 times to prove destruction, 11. Their Bible meaning, 
21. Ten texts for restoration, as proving destruction, 22. Life and 
death not figurative, 26. What was lost by the fall 26. Prof. 'Stuart 
reviewed, 28. Wholesale perversion, 29. All the Bible proof of immor- 
tality, 30. A non-descript dictionary, 30. Error in our translation, 
32. Meaning of soul and spirit, 32. 

Chap. II. — Metaphysical proof of immortality explcKled, 35. New 
York Recorder reviewed, 38. Immortality a^isumed, 42. 

Chap. III.— Hell not a local place to continue eternally, 4a. 
Meaning of the English word kell, 45. Prof. Stuart on the four terms, 
Sheol. Hades, Gehenna, Tartarus, translated Hell, 46. Gehenna (hell) 
explained, 48. Corruption in translating Grehenna by hell, 50. Paul 
told of no hell, 52. Hell is to be ended. 52. Meaning of the English 
word hell has been corruptly changed, 53- Catholics the most honest 
in translating hell, 54. Errors ia translation, 56. 

Chap. IV. — Texts supposed to teach endless woe explained, 59. Six 
classes of texts amounting to 284 to be left out, 59- The rich man in 
hell explained, 61. Unquenchable fire no proof of endless woe but 
of destruction, 65. A review, 67. 

Chap. Y. — P. 69. All the remaining texts, being 15 explained— but 
15 claimed by Prof Stuart. All of them quoted, 69. General re- 
marks on them, 70. All figurative, 70. Aion, (for ever,) explained, 
71. All given up by different divines, 72. No endless woe told in 
the O. T., 73. Dan 12: 2, '-everlasting contempt' explaimed, 74. — 
"Everlasting fire," 77. " Everlasting punishment," 81. The Re- 
corder, 83. Pres. Edward's views, 84. 

Chap. VI.— Smoke of torment, 89, For ever and ever explained, 
92. Bible vs. Tradition. 96. The devil tormented, 98. Literal devil 
not meant, 99. Lake of fire, 101. 

Chap. VII. — Review and Results, texts perverted, 104. Thirty texts 
to one for destruction, 105. Absurdities, 107. The Bible does not 
seem to teach endless woe, as the texts relied or. prove destruction, 
109. Universalism and orthodoxy contrasted, 110. They have the 
most texts, 112. Been abused, 115. Are more numerous than is 
known, 114. 

Concluding remarks, 117. Endless woe, slanders all God's attrl- 
buteB, 118. Ministers oppose refbrm, IIT- 



years old is eflTectedby the parent saying:, * Obey, or I will cut your 
head off.' It is ttie certainty and justness, and not tiie severity of 
threatened punishment which is salutary. On this principle, des- 
struction, as it is seen to be just, has more terror, and so is more 
salutary than endless torment. 

8. 'J'he Baptist Register has said, "'It would be forgotten, in eter- 
nity, that sin ever existed, if the wicked were dead.^' It is an in- 
sult to say, God couid not stamp the fact on the memory of all be- 
in?:s eternally : Or. if he pleased, leave unconscious monuments, 
like Lot's wife. 

9. Mr. Lord, of Xew York, in his Pxeview of Dobney, says, God 
7nust keep the wicked alive to show h\s power to restrain and go- 
vern them." I ask, if Godi<> power will not be seen at the judg- 
ment, and forever, without such a horrid display of it? Tiiis idea 
represents God as acting infinitely worse, and more absurdly than 
a king would if he should shut up flies or mosquitoes, and some way 
torment them to show his mighty power. We are but '* dust of the 
balance in God's sight,'- and insects are more than that to us. 

10. When all other reasons fail to make this doctrine look con- 
sistent, it is said. We must believe what we cannot comprehend.'^ 
This argument is consistent, where God's moral character is not 
involved; as in the belief of his omnipresence, creating power, 
^c. ; but it is sin to believe a docti'ine which impeaches his attri- 
butes. While some other revealed doctrines are (ibove our reason, 
none contradict it. nor injure his moral character, but this. Chris- 
tians seem to be ignoi-ant of this distinction, when they use this 
argument, while those not fettered by tradition see it. 

These are specimens of reasons to justify the doctrine of endless 
misery, and the main ones; and. as they all outrage reason and 
common sense, just as Catholic arguments do. their direct tendency 
is to make skeptics or Uni versalists, and not to save souls. 

The heathen reason better. In Siam a priest came to our mis- 
sionar}^ and asked " how long his God tormented bad men in a 
future state]"' and when answered, '"forever," he replied: ''Our 
God torments the worst of men only one thousand years, so we 
will not have your American God in Siam I'' The doctrine is a 
barrier to the gospel, both to the heathen and us. 

As to reasoning on the justice of destruction, the strongest ob- 
jection which can be preferred against it, is the one often made by 
Universalists, viz. : "It is too sevei-e — God will not destroy any of 
his children." Lock wisely says. The wicked had no right to de- 
mand their existence, and so no right to demand its continuance." 

Reason teaches that there is much more mystery in God's order- 
ing that noble animals should suffer and cease to be. than man 
should, seeing they have not sinned as man has. Verily, '"his 
ways are in the mighty deep," — but the Judge of ail the earth 
will do right." 



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